Back again yet not the same
by Adri1577
Summary: Edward left Bella a century ago and now it's another new school year for the Cullen family, all eight of them. They go back to Forks to be engulfed in questions. EPOV
1. Chapter 1

Hello.

I have been playing with this thought for quite some time and I needed peace to finish my other stories, so I decided to put it down. It is only a blabber for now, call it a one-shot if you want, but it is likely to be turned into a normal story whenever I have time.

Enjoy!

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It's been over a century since I lost the center of my existence. Over a century I am barely able to make myself go through another day. If it wasn't for my family, I would be long gone. But because I cannot be happy, I decided to exist for them. Exist and not live. My life ended when I left Forks that night all those years ago. Even now I can't bring myself to think of her name. Jasper can't take it when we are yards apart and now he is sitting at my side.

I left the love of my life promising never to come back. But as selfish creature as I was, I returned a few months later ready to beg for her forgiveness. With my heart and mind falling apart I realized she was nowhere around. Not at school, not in the shop or library, not at home. I even checked the border line but she wasn't there either. I was too much of a coward to ask Charlie and the only thing other people knew was that she was gone. Even Angela and Jessica didn't know where. I was desperate enough to go to Phoenix, but neither she nor her mother was there. It was as if they had disappeared.

Esme's pleas brought me back to my family. I promised to myself that I will exist on because this was what she wanted for me. Though I felt like burning from pain for years. I used to try convincing myself that this was for the best for her. She could live on and have a normal human life, grow up, marry, have children. A mere thought about somebody else by her side was excruciating, but this was her life… No matter what I kept repeating, my shattered heart craved for her scent, her warmth, her voice, her very being. Every time we came to live to a new place, I would run around and check. Maybe she was there. All I needed was to make sure she was safe and happy. At least I kept telling this to myself. But I wasn't lucky, not even once.

"Did you honestly expect her to wait for you for eternity?!" Rosalie always hit to the sorest point. But it was enough to make me understand how selfish I was. I had a family to look after.

A few decades after I stopped living, we came across a gal. She was attacked by a vampire and bitten beyond our help. I killed the creature and in her eyes became her savior. Carlisle offered her to join us. And since my guardian angel, if I ever had one, was gone for what seemed to be an eternity, she agreed.

Her name was Evelyn. "But please call me Eve." Her sickeningly sweet voice rings in my head whenever I remember that day. It took me forever to remember that name. Quite surprising, because she follows me everywhere and has a terrible crush on me. My family was so happy. They thought I had found somebody to love me and that with time I will bring myself to at least appreciate her. The only problem here was that I felt an incredible urge to roll my eyes every time she tried getting closer to me and I could not stand her by my side. Don't get me wrong, she was beautiful and when she wanted, she could be very friendly, helpful and compassionate. But she was just not my type. She was natural blonde, her hair as well as her mind. She hated reading and could barely stand classical music. Shopping was her favorite pastime activity. She was simply shallow to no ends. To make it even worse, she was all hugs and smiles with my family though truly she only wanted me, and even that was for fun and games. But Esme was certain we made a nice couple… Sometimes I was sure they saw her as a substitute for my true love, but they would never admit that. And she was amazing when it came to pretending. I had never seen anyone who could put their feelings and emotions just in a way they wanted and not how they actually felt. It always fooled Jasper. And _Eve_ quickly realized she didn't have to say anything aloud to me, and that this would trick Alice into knowing nothing. I hate her, I truly do. But the rest of my family likes her, so I stay silent.

We were supposed to start a new school year in Alaska this time. And we did. But the poor excuse for existence slipped, _again_. And we had to leave after barely moving in. Jasper finally felt proud that he wasn't the weakest link anymore. And I was always the one who had to consult her. The others had mates and I was alone, so I guess it was only natural. Not that it helped…

"That's it. We are moving back to Forks." Rosalie stamped her foot like a spoilt child. But since she cared about no one except for herself, it was understandable. "I love the house, it is always foggy and we don't have to travel for miles to find food. Enough running. Let's go home." Carlisle wanted to postpone it for another decade or so for my sake, but I couldn't be so selfish and I agreed with my beautiful sister.

And here I am. Sitting in a school cafeteria during our lunch break. It is one of those very rare occasions when I felt grateful for Eve's closeness, because it made clear that I was not interested in dating any of the girls in this place. Not that it stopped them from fantasizing and forgetting their boyfriends… My other siblings were kissing their mates whenever they got a chance in order to send the message to the others.

I was sitting with my back to the rest of the student body, picking at my food when an almost familiar scent hit me.

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**Thank you for reading. ****Let me know what you think about it and if you liked it or not.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again.**

**I forgot the disclaimer last time, so there it is: Disclaimer for this chapter and the rest of the story: ****I own nothing, the rightful owners do.**

**I wasn't planning on updating this story any time soon, but it kind of happened. It's not long, but it's interesting for me to write in Edward's POV.**

**********The song in the end is "High School never ends" by Bowling for soup.**

**********One more thing, there will be scarce swearing or mild language starting from this chapter. Only a few words a chapter, but still if you feel strongly against it, I suggest ignoring the words or choosing another story.**

**********Other than that, we are good to go :)  
**

**Enjoy!**

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Last time:

_I was sitting with my back to the rest of the student body, picking at my food when an almost familiar scent hit me._

This time:

My head snapped up. The scent was sweet and mouthwatering. But surprisingly it wasn't burning. Maybe the cafeteria's stench diluted it... But it was still the best fragrance I had ever smelt.

I turned around and saw a girl and a boy walking away from us with their trays in hands. It was a usual scene at school. But there was one thing terribly off. I couldn't read their minds. How could that be? The only person I had ever met with a shielded mind was my love. But it was different this time. Instead of getting nothing from them, whenever I concentrated, it seemed like I could hear everybody's thoughts in this room amplified. As for the boy, it truly was as if he didn't exist. Maybe they were also mind readers...? If that even was possible for a human to be.

"Jasper?" I turned to my brother at my side. He looked at me surprised, these years I rarely talked unless I had no other choice. "Can you feel that boy... and girl walking over there?"

His eyebrows shot up. "You mean the ones laughing over there?" I nodded. "Sure I can. They are happy and calm." He shrugged nonchalant. "Why?" His eyes narrowed on me.

I looked back at the girl. Even though she was facing away from me, I could tell that she was medium height, her hair was chocolate brown, she seemed well fit and her clothes were too good-looking to have been bought in a shop.

I tried to reason with myself. It was impossible!

"Bella?" I was standing behind her with my hand on her shoulder stopping her before I could tell my body to move.

_"Idiot! What is he doing?"_ Alice's mental voice reached me.

_"What. A jerk."_ As always Rosalie was short to the point.

_"I thought he had gotten over that_ human." Eve would never understand me.

Jasper and Emmett's thoughts were softer and compassionate, but they were also tired of me holding back on the past and not living the present.

The girl turned to me.

I instantly fell into those deep brown inquisitive eyes. They were so innocent. And her scent made my head spin.

"Excuse me?" Her chiming voice brought me back to reality. She was not my Bella. What was I thinking before? Oh, right. I wasn't thinking at all. And _I_ was the vampire. _I_ was supposed to dazzle her like this. Not the other way around!

She smiled at me and tilted her head curiously. Was there something wrong? Oh, she was waiting for my answer. What was the question?

"I'm sorry. I... I thought... I thought you were someone else." I stammered weakly. Why and what was she doing to me?

"Is she beautiful?" She asked. And surprised me again. What was she talking about? This inability to read her mind was frustrating. I took a quick deep breath in order to clear my head. But all I got was another wave of dizziness. I shook my head slightly. This was more than odd.

"Wha-?" I feebly managed. She chuckled lightly and playfully. Again, her voice was like chiming bells.

"The girl you mistook me for? Is she beautiful?" Her smile was captivating. I slightly shook my head and took a tiny step backwards.

"The most beautiful I have ever seen." I gave her an honest smile. She was just as beautiful. I could feel Rosalie and Eve taking this as a personal insult, but I couldn't care less about them.

"Then I will take this as a compliment." Her lips stretched further apart. I nodded. She definitely should.

"Wow bro. What are you doing?" Emmett's voice boomed at my ear. "Sorry, Edward sometimes wanders off." He turned his apologetic face to someone in front of me, but not the girl. Only now I remembered that she had been walking with a guy before I stopped her. The boy had a smug look on his face. If I wasn't a vampire, I would have been crimson.

"Nice to meet you, Edward." Her voice was so soft and gentle, just as her eyes. "And welcome to Forks."

I don't know what I was about to do, but whatever it was, Emmett's firm hand on my shoulder stopped me. I was grateful to him. I had already embarrassed myself more than enough for one day.

"I'm Emmett by the way." He foolishly stretched out his hand. What happened next, caught my interest even more.

The guy not only took his hand, but also shook it. And in a way that even my huge brother felt his firm grip. This was becoming weird...

Only now I took a better look at the boy. He was slightly taller than the girl. His eyes were emerald, hair was bronze with a few darker brown streaks. He wasn't thin or too muscular for that matter, but it was obvious that he was sinewy.

"I think we should go." My brother smiled baring his teeth, but surprisingly for me and disappointingly for him the kids didn't flinch. On the contrary, they smiled back.

"Good luck, Edward." The girl looked straight into my eyes and I was once again lost in her piercing gaze. That is, until Emmett forcibly turned me around and away from them.

I glanced over my shoulder. The guy nodded to a table far away by the wall where only a few other kids were sitting. They both walked off.

"Nice, man." Emmett disapprovingly murmured when we reached our table.

"What's wrong with you?" Rosalie hissed. I rolled my eyes. They would never understand me anyway...

Eve, however, was hurt. Her and Alice's pained expressions, though the last one was full of compassion, were too much for me.

I took my tray, dumped it in a trash bin and left. I had two more lessons to prepare myself for today's conversation in the evening which was sure to centre around me.

The next on my list was Music. It was pretty much the only reason why I had agreed to go to school again. The other one being to get away from Eve.

I entered the class just before a bell. It was a big room with tables lined against walls in two rows, they made a semicircle leaving the space in the middle for a grand piano and a singer. There were also drums, both acoustic and electrical guitars and a keyboard by the further wall. It was a perfect music classroom.

Too bad almost all seats were taken. I gave my slip to the teacher, a lovely old lady, to sign and she let me sit without any introductions. By the time Eve arrived and got her signature, there was only one empty place left, by my side.

"Thank you for saving me this one." She sweetly whispered. I would have gladly sat somewhere... anywhere else, but there simply were no other empty seats. I was left to sulk till our teacher called the class to attention.

"Afternoon." She smiled and all talks died down. She didn't even have to raise her tone to be heard, a very uncommon thing in schools nowadays. "I'm glad to see you all here. As you have already noticed, we have two new students here. Evelyn Hale and Edward Cullen. Let's welcome them." She paused. Everybody applauded politely. Looks like bad manners was not an option in this class. I wanted to become invisible and Eve was flattered by all this attention. Yeah, we truly made a nice couple...

"As for this lesson, I am glad to see you all sitting in pairs. Remember, you will have to sit like today for the rest of the school year." She looked over every student. "So." She clapped her hands expectantly. "Has anyone prepared a song for today?"

Apparently, we were supposed not only to sit through this class, but actually participate. Compose, write songs and then perform them in front of other students.

"One more thing to remember. For now, I want the girls to show us their voices and the guys show off their instrumental skills." The teacher really knew how to brighten my cloudy day. There was no way, I was singing in front of other students. Playing, on the other hand, I could handle. "We will switch roles later." She winked and glanced around looking for volunteers.

There were a few minutes of silence. Nobody wanted to be the first one.

"Okay. I understand you are all very busy at home. I give you twenty minutes to prepare a song. That's right. Words AND Music." Was she insane?! How did she expect us to prepare a decent song in such a short time?! "Make it about whatever you want." She paused. "Tell us about your day, what you feel... Anything. It doesn't have to be big, long or intelligent."

About my day? From having to go to the school where I had met the love of my life and knowing that she will not be there, having to endure Eve and my siblings' scrutinizing looks, being the centre of attention and all the way to how I made myself look like a complete idiot when I met the gorgeous girl with the best scent I could ever imagine. Yeah, my day had been great.

"Any volunteers now?" The teacher clapped her hands again and glanced around the class. Everybody fell silent. "Come on, people. You will all have to do this sooner or later." Why was she looking at me?! "How about you, Evelyn and Edward? We would like to know you better." Did she honestly expect me to work on my first day in school?

Eve shifted at my side. She wanted to sing, to show off her voice and amaze everybody. She surely knew how to use her vampiric advantages and not only during hunting... I, however, was not going to move an inch. I had had enough embarrassment for a single day. And to start that it was also my first day in this school... No, I was not doing anything during this lesson.

"Maybe another time..." I murmured lamely.

"Alright. Then you will be the first ones next time." She smiled. Just great! Exactly what I needed... "People! Anybody today?"

The guy I had met in the cafeteria playfully nudged the breathtaking girl. She sighed and shyly raised her hand. "We can do this." She didn't have to sing to have my full attention and admiration. "If nobody else wants." She hopefully glanced around the room.

"The floor is yours, darling." The lady smiled again. Darling. She called the girl like this even in her mind. Well, this wasn't helpful. I wanted to know her name. But was too much of a coward to ask her myself. Guess I will have to wait a little more...

She took a deep breath and got up. The boy went to get an electric guitar and she walked in front of the class. She took a deep breath and blushed slightly. A smile stretched across her face.

"This is a song about the way I feel right at this moment. Or before this class actually..." She glanced at the teacher. Lunch was before this lesson. I was paler than usually if that was possible. "Or to say it even more accurately, that's how I felt in the end of the class just before lunch. It's rather short and nothing big, so just let your emotions fly." I relaxed a bit. This meant she was not going to mention me. The guy plugged in his guitar and strummed it. She glanced at him. "I see we are ready. So let's go."

The music started. It was not anywhere close to my favorite.

_HEY!  
Uh Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh  
HEY!  
Uh Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh, Uh Oh Uh-Oh  
HEY!_

_4 Years you think for sure  
That's all you've got to endure  
All the total jerks  
All the stuck-up chicks  
So superficial, so IMMATURE._

_Then when you graduate,  
You take a look around and you say "Hey Wait!"  
This is the same as where I just came from,  
I thought it was over, Aw that's just great._

Okay, the words were lousy to say the least... But her voice, I couldn't tear my ears off her.

_The whole damn world is just as obsessed  
With who's the best dressed and who's having sex.  
Who's got the money, who gets the honeys.  
Who's kinda cute and who's just a mess._

_And you still don't have the right look  
And you don't have the right friends  
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends..._

We were in the ninth grade. What was I expecting from a hormonal teenager? Though she didn't look like one in the cafeteria... Again, even Eve could be nice sometimes...

_Check out the popular kids  
You'll never guess what Jessica did!  
And how did Mary Kate lose all that weight?  
And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom's straight!_

_And the only thing that matters,  
Is climbing up that social ladder  
Still care about your hair and the car you drive  
Doesn't matter if you're 16 or 35._

_Reese witherspoon, she's the Prom Queen  
Bill gates, Captain of the chess team  
Jack black, the clown  
Brad pitt, the quarterback_

_Seen it all before  
I want my money back!_

The kids laughed and the teacher gave her a scolding look. Apparently Jessica, Mary Kate, Katie and Tom were the real names of students in this school...

After another refrain the music ended.

"Well that was different." The lady could hardly find the right words. "I see you feel _slightly_ cynical today..." Her lips pressed into a thin smiling line.

"Sorry, it's Thursday afternoon." She shrugged. The guy took his seat.

"Then I don't want to hear a word from you tomorrow. I have no wish of knowing your thoughts in the end of Friday." The teacher playfully shuddered. The girl smiled. "And for the next time, change the names." She glanced at the rest of the class. "We come here to learn. You from me about music and how lame you are. I from you about the lives of young people of nowadays." She almost snorted at he end of her sentence. "And every time you come in front of this class, you have to do better than the last time. No sorrys and no excuses." She paused to let her words sink in. "Class dismissed."

Students started speaking at once. The girl returned to her table where the guy was waiting for her with their bags in his hands. I wanted to watch her, maybe even talk to her again, but my line of sight was blocked by an annoying blond.

"So Eddie. We have a song to prepare." She looked ecstatic. "I can't wait for that." Her fantasies about us writing a song on her bed were horrific...

I grabbed my bag and quickly made my way to the doors. I glanced behind to see where the girl was, but I couldn't find her.

When I got to my car, all my sisters were still fuming for today's lunch. I rolled my eyes.

"Talk. Now." Rosalie hissed.

"Baby, let's wait till we get home." Emmett tried calming down his lover and Jasper was smart enough to send little waves of calmness to everybody. "You don't want to make a scene and have to move again." Rosalie glared at all her brothers stopping her gaze on me for a little longer. She got in the car with an angry huff.

Guess, we were skipping P.E.

This was going to be a long conversation...

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**Thank you for reading. ****Let me know what you think about it and if you liked it or not.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello. Sorry for not updating in ages, but I had to finish writing my other story. I have been asked to update this story and here it is.**

**Enjoy!**

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"Carlisle!" Rosalie raised her tone entering our house and striding for the living room.

Emmett followed right behind her trying to calm his lover down, Alice and Jasper were a few feet in front of me, Eve walked at my favorite sister's side looking a bit awkward. As usually I was trailing behind everybody.

When we came into the room, our adoptive parents were already sitting at the end of the table. I guess Alice had called to tell them we were coming home early. Rosalie took a place in front of them whereas Emmett pulled out a chair next to her. Alice and Jasper sat on Esme's left, Eve strode to our beautiful sister's side, and I had no other choice but to take a seat between my father and our family's last edition. The circle look: Carlisle, me, Eve, Rosalie and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, and Esme sitting by her beloved husband's side.

"What happened?" Our father glanced alarmed over us noting that none of our eyes were crimson.

"Edward." Rosalie growled as if my name was enough for an explanation.

Carlisle's head snapped to me. _'But his irises are golden as always.' _He cocked his eyebrows questioningly.

"He is still not over Bella." Eve's voice was hurt as if she cared about me at all. Esme winced as pain surged through her heart at the name of my love. "And he is having a crush on some pathetic human girl because she resembles _her._"

"I am not crushing for the girl!" This was the worst absurdity I had ever heard.

"Ooo, defensive. And what does that mean other than the best proof of your feelings towards her." Emmett always managed to find humour in whatever situation I was in.

"Jasper. Tell them that I feel nothing for the girl." I looked at my brother in front of me.

"But lying is impolite." He only put on a mask of pure innocence, though inside he couldn't contain his laughter. A mild growl escaped my lips. Alice glared at me, so I had to satisfy myself with only radiating off irritation, but this wasn't enough to wipe the smirk off from Jasper's face.

"What is it so special about her?" Carlisle thought that by making me put everything in words and say it out loud he would help me realize something along the lines of 'seeing a beautiful girl and leaving her be.'

"Her scent is the best I have ever smelled and not scorching at all. And she is the very definition of a word beauty. She is smart and quick learner, and she is... special." Why did my voice just got a dreamy undertone?! I had to look away from my father, for I didn't like that amused look on his face.

"Just special?" Emmett made it sound like an ordinary thing. My eyes narrowed into slits glancing at him. Where was he going? "So you ogling at her like an idiot for an eternity meant nothing?" He chuckled getting on my last nerve. Why was everyone so opposed to me getting to know a new girl?

"I didn't ogle at her!" I knew I had to keep my mouth shut. This was sure to bring more teasing my way.

"So there was another reason why you were lost to the rest of the world while standing in front of her?" Jasper cocked his eyebrows questioningly. This time even Alice couldn't stop a smile appearing on her lips. My both brothers were pained by what happened with my love and now they were determined to keep me away from any girl I could possibly find interest in. For her best interest as well as our family's. If only they knew that this time I was the easy prey, one that the girl could have without a fight or even effort whenever she wanted.

"Please. She is a _human_." Eve spat the last word like it was poisonous. I rolled my eyes at her. She was the only one of us who had no wish of being a human again.

Esme sighed with compassion to me both in her mind and voice. I didn't like where this was going, not that I had liked it from the very beginning. "I know, honey, that it is not easy for you to live on after Bella, but you have to try. And holding back onto anybody who resembles her even in the least will only serve to hurt you." She paused for a slow moment. "I am sorry that it didn't work out for you and Bella, but she is gone and you cannot change that." I knew only too excruciatingly well how right my mother was. "You have to let this girl have her own life."

There was a long silence. Everybody was watching me. Some with fierce determination to keep me in check, others with pity and compassion. I can't say I liked any of those emotions.

"Alright. For start, what is her name?" Carlisle spoke up looking at me.

"Why?" For some reason he was thinking about his job that he was about to start the following day. What was his interest in this girl?

"Forks is still a small town. Maybe I could ask around and find out more about her other than school gossips." His eyes were piercing me trying to figure out why I was so reluctant to simply give him her name.

I squirmed in my seat. Of course, Emmett had to find this amusing; he chuckled without even trying to be quiet.

"I... don't... know it." I murmured suddenly finding great interest in the top of the table.

"You have a crush on a girl and you don't even know her name?!" My huge brother's laugh boomed in the room. I winced as Jasper joined in my tormenting. He was definitely having too much fun of me.

"Then what does she think about you?" My father tried saving the situation only to unconsciously make it worse.

"I don't know..." I whispered. The wooden table was truly beautiful with an interesting pattern. "I can't read her mind."

Suddenly everyone fell quiet. I looked up at my family's faces. They were all surprised and a shade of worry crossed them.

"Alice." Thankfully Carlisle turned to my sister and most importantly away from me. "What do you see?"

My favorite sibling froze for a moment and then leaned into Jasper. "I can't see anything." She didn't feel comfortable being blind, but she was determined not to show how disturbing it was for her.

"Calisle." Rosalie spoke up again. "We are in Forks." And this had to explain everything in exactly what way? "Remember the dogs? Their descendants are probably still living here. Maybe even going to the same school as us. Edward said that the girl's scent was not burning, and that he couldn't read her mind. She is probably Bella and whatever the name of that dog's was great-great-great granddaughter." She took a breath only to blabber on. "I don't think she is any kind of a threat as long as this Don Juan stays away from her, and she has no idea who we are." My sister's eyes glared at me fully delivering the message. "There is no need for us to move." Eve shifted in her seat; she knew well that killing somebody would make us leave no matter what and she wasn't so opposed to human's blood. "And if anybody slips, only that person moves. Making a story won't be difficult: visiting distant relatives or getting a scholarship in some school." Rosalie glared at our youngest sister for a moment. "I want to graduate from high school finally." She turned to our father. "We haven't had a graduation party since before Bella. At first everybody needed a break from everything. Then Evelyn joined us and she hasn't managed to finish school even once!"

"Rosalie!" Esme always hated reprimanding us, but this time my sister left her no choice.

"I love this place! It's beautiful and there is plenty of food here. If Edward stays away from the girl, we will all be happy." I hadn't heard such despair in her voice since one of her first attempts to persuade us to move back to Forks. She truly loved this place and was ready to fight tooth and nail to stay here.

"Son?" Carlisle looked at me again.

"What?! I am not some creepy stalker!" I didn't have to be one, for I had at least one lesson with the girl.

"Very well then. We are staying here for the time being." Our father finished the conversation by standing up and leaving for his study.

Alice and Jasper walked out for a short hunt before tomorrow's school day, and Rosalie dragged Emmett upstairs both happy they didn't have to move.

I got up to walk out to my room when Eve stopped me.

"We have a song to write." Her sweet voice was sickening. I was hardly in a mood for Esme's hopeful eyes. How could she want for me to be with a girl like this absolute blond?!

"How about you write and learn it, and I will play whatever you want." I said in a rush and dashed to my room.

Officially as every couple in this house, Eve and I had to share a room. She loved the thought; I, on the other hand, couldn't imagine such thing being bearable. What other option did I have than tidying the basement into a livable place and taking all my music and books along with other things except for clothes downstairs. I only went into my and Eve's room to have a shower and change my clothes. And even this I did when she wasn't in. I know I sound pathetic, but the blond was always getting on my nerves. She was so different from my love.

I turned a collection of Debussy's works on to calm myself down.

I thought back about what exactly I knew about the girl. Her scent was the best I had ever come across. It wasn't burning like human's, but neither was it repulsive like the dogs'. Actually, it was delicious in a non-edible way. What else? Her appearance: deep brown eyes, chocolate hair, captivating smile, warm touch, chiming voice, everything about her reminded me of my centre of existence. But how could it be? There was no way for that girl to have so many features in common with my love. Even if this new gal was my centre's of existence descendant, too many generations should have passed. And yet they were so alike! This was too frustrating!

"Edward?" Esme whispered my name coming down to my 'room'. "Carlisle and I are going to the local cemetery to put some flowers on Charlie's grave and show our respect. We haven't said our goodbyes to him." She wanted for me to go with them as if seeing the old chief's of police grave would be a start for me to live on.

But this was not my idea about calming down. "Maybe later. Some other time." I mumbled lying on my couch. Esme sighed and left.

**

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Thank you for reading. ****Let me know what you think about it and if you liked it or not.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello. Sorry for uploading only now, but my exams are seriously getting in my way.**

**I'm glad somebody finds this story worth reading.**

**Enjoy!**

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I got out of my 'room' which was generally called basement. It was morning already and we were supposed to get to school in about an hour. My parents were nowhere in sight or in house at all. It was strange, for I never heard them returning last night either. On the other hand, I was glad that Eve was in Alice's room finishing the song we had had to prepare for today's lesson. This meant I had just enough time to get a shower and change my clothes.

When I finally got downstairs, my siblings were waiting for me. Evelyn gave my the lyrics and happily skipped to my car. The moment I started reading the song, I felt a sudden nausea.

"Alice! You were supposed to make sure this was decent." I waved the piece of paper in front of her. I couldn't afford being associated with such nonsense! It would make the female population's of the school daydreams so much worse for me...

"I tried. You of all know how she gets when she wants something. Believe me, this is the best that was possible to achieve." She slipped to the garage, and I was left to sulk all by myself.

When we finally got to the school, we turned out to be one of the first ones to show up. There were only three more cars and a motorcycle in the parking lot. One of the vehicles was an old midnight blue Audi, that dated back almost a century, and the bike was a black Ducati. Jasper eyed the last one with a dreamy smile; he liked the old good and reliable model. My siblings went to their classes while I waited outside for the mysterious girl to arrive. If I couldn't be with her, it didn't mean I couldn't watch her all the time she spent at school.

Students coming and going, I waited till the very last minute for the gal to show up before I was late for my first class, but she never came. Was there something wrong with her? Maybe she was sick? Or maybe she was simply running late? I could get her to classes every morning if only she wanted... Then she would never be late. Wait! I wasn't supposed to get even close to her. I surely wasn't allowed to get her to school. I would have to think of something else...

The bell finally rang and unwillingly I had to dash for my first period. Luckily there was not a soul in my way and I wasn't late by much.

I tried spending the rest of my school day till lunch as quietly as possible. The new girl was nowhere to be seen, but I did notice the boy lingering by some classrooms.

When I entered the cafeteria with Jasper behind me, it was already full of people. We stood in queue to get our props. I was about to take my food when the familiar scent hit me. I looked around and noticed the beautiful girl standing a few children in front of me.

"What are you eating today?" My brother asked in my ear.

"Deer..." I muttered without thinking following the gal with my eyes as she and the boy walked away from the queue with their trays.

"Very funny!" Jasper nudged my side in a not so playful manner though his voice was amused.

Only now I realized it was my turn to get food. I took a slice of pizza that I wasn't going to touch again, paid for it and stepped away from the kids behind me to find where the mysterious girl had gone.

"Come on." My brother took my arm by my elbow and tugged me to our table.

I took my seat miserably and folded my arms in front of me. At least I was facing the rest of the students body and would be able to look for the gal.

"Did you read the lyrics?" Eve interrupted my silent mulling.

"I don't have to know them. All I must do is play." Her question was a normal one, but I couldn't stop myself from being irritated by her very presence. I always felt like she wanted to replace the centre of my existence, and the others excepting her so easily wasn't helpful either...

"Well it is definitely better than the one that poor excuse for a human tried crying out yesterday." Smugness in her voice was the last thing I needed. Luckily Jasper grabbed my arm holding me down because I wouldn't have felt a tinge of guilt for ripping that foolish head off! How could she even say that?! The mysterious girl's voice had been so mesmerizing that I couldn't tear my ears or eyes off her.

I took a deep breath and happily welcomed my brother's efforts to calm me down. I glanced over my smallest sister's shoulder and noticed the beautiful girl sitting right across the cafeteria. Again she was with the boy and a few more friends. They were all laughing and chatting. I watched her in fascination. She was so entrancing and even from my place I could hear her chiming laughter. Looking at her I noticed that she was only reacting to others' comments but not putting her own thoughts in the conversation. It seemed like she was observing the others and taking her own pleasure as much as she wanted from the chat.

Rosalie followed my eyes and tiredly sighed. "She is a mere human." I barely registered her talking. "Haven't you done enough harm already?" Her voice became rigid, and I knew I had to look at her rather than the girl, but it was way too difficult to do. "Stop it! And leave her alone!" My sister snapped at me, and I finally glanced at her no turning my head away from the beauty in front of me. "You promised!" She hissed too lo for humans to hear. "Now collect yourself because you have your next class with her. And don't you dare to even get close to her!" She glared at me for a few more moments before taking her tray and leaving the cafeteria with Emmett on her tail.

"Come on... You have class in ten minutes." Jasper got up taking his, Alice's and my props in his hands. He made his way to the bin while his lover clung to my arm wanting to make sure that my body found the exist rather than the beautiful girl.

Girl. I still didn't know her name... Well I did have enough time to find that out, but I had never had to make an effort to figure out something like that before.

Eve skipped in front of us into the air. Her arrogance was not over her head but ours as well. Couldn't she understand that I chose a 'mere human' over her? Did this mean nothing to her? Or maybe she was unable to except that.

I and the annoying blond entered the class while Alice skipped to her own next period.

We barely took our seats when the teacher called for attention and everyone sat down at once. It still amazed me how she could make us all quiet without saying a single harsh word.

"Good afternoon, dears. Nice to see you all here." She smiled and everyone was watching and listening to her attentively. "I know that at least one of you isn't well today, so I am willing to let you go earlier if we work fluently." Her eyes glided over each of us making it clear that today was not a day to try her patience, not that anybody would have tried that anyway. "So." She clapped her hands eagerly. "We have at least one song to listen. The floor is yours." She beamed at me and Eve, and the blond got up without a second thought. I had been dreading this moment all day.

My sister stood in the middle of the classroom in the empty space for the singer and I took a seat behind the grand piano. I could be seen only barely, so thankfully I wouldn't have to watch the blond making a fool out of herself. But then there were thoughts that I wasn't protected from...

Eve took a breath filling her lungs with air and I touched the keyboard. The music was simple and primitive, so everybody's attention was on her.

_"1, 2, 3"_ My sister started clapping showing the beat and signaling for others to do the same. Some kids also clapped but most of them only sceptically watched her performance.  
_"Not only you and me  
Got one eighty degrees  
And I'm caught in between  
Countin'  
1, 2, 3  
Peter, Paul & Mary  
Gettin' down with 3P  
Everybody loves ***_  
_Countin'" _Oh my God, how did I get myself into this nonsense?!

"_Babe, pick a night  
To come out and play  
If it's alright  
What do you say?_

_Merrier the more  
Triple fun that way  
Twister on the floor  
What do you say?_

_Are - you in  
Livin' in sin is the new thing, yeah  
Are - you in  
I am countin'!" _This was worse than awful... I could only pray that it would end soon.

"_Three is a charm  
Two is not the same  
I don't see the harm  
So are you game?_

_Lets' make a team  
Make 'em say my name  
Lovin' the extreme  
Now are you game?" _By now my mind was flooded with images of her and various boys in so many positions that I felt like vomiting. To make it worse, I wasn't as unnoticeable as I had thought and the girls were doing their best playing with me in their imaginations.

_"What we do is innocent  
Just for fun and nothin' meant  
If you don't like the company  
Let's just do it you and me  
You and me...  
Or three....  
Or four....  
- On the floor!" _I knew I should have read all the lyrics in the morning. But who would have thought that this blond was capable of such nauseating things?! At least this was the end of that horrific vomiting of words.

After a few more moments I stopped playing and got up. Eve was looking at the teacher like every other kid in class.

The old woman was contemplating how to tell us that this was disastrous at best."Well... I am glad that you learnt how to count to three." Eve took the bait as a praise without a second thought. "And I am certain that next time you will most definitely improve..." _because I can't_ _imagine it getting worse._

If I could, I would have been crimson. I glanced around the class: all the kids were listening to the comments silently agreeing but not muttering a single words. All except for the boy and the beautiful girl. The guy was quietly tapping his fingers on the desk as if he was playing the piano, and the girl watched him paying no attention to her surroundings. I couldn't understand the tinge of sadness in my heart. On one hand, I was glad she didn't see me humiliating myself while performing this lousy 'song', but, on the other hand, I was far from being happy that she didn't think of me worth her attention to even listen to us for those very few minutes.

"...The melody was nice. Simple, but not a bad one. Good job." _A mental note, not to ask these two to perform any time soon. They clearly need to learn a lot from others. _The teacher excused us still thinking about some old performance done by the girl and boy whose names I still didn't know.

We took our seats, and the old woman stood in the middle of the classroom. "Next time we meet, we are having something like A Day of Foreign Languages. I won't even pretend to understand its purpose, but alas we have to do something in other language than English. So, I want you to prepare a song not in English." Thankfully I had traveled enough to be fluent in like a hundred other dialects. And I was certain she was not going to invite the two of us to sing. "Another thing for the next time. I can see that our girls are out of inspiration, thus I want the boys to use their voices next class. And we will all see how our gals play instruments." She smiled at me. For some reason she was willing to give me a try in singing. Well, of course my voice was better than humans', but this was not helpful in my attempts to fight off the attention from females! The only one of them that I was interested in wasn't taking any note of me. "That's all for today. You have your work. You can stay and do it here, or you can do it at home. Class dismissed." She clapped her hands and turned around for her desk.

All the kids got up to leave the room and just like yesterday I lost the amazing girl from my sight. I sighed and got my bag.

Gym was my next class. I dropped my things in the locker room and went outside. I saw the boy getting into the room; he was alone and sadly his mind was still closed to me. I glanced down the corridor and saw Alice skipping to me with Emmett following right behind her.

"How was your class?" My sister smiled at me.

"Stop worrying. I am not doing anything stupid." I murmured irritated. It was nice that she cared about me, but sometimes it could annoy me to no ends.

"I certainly hope so, bro. Otherwise, before sending you to oblivion, Rosalie will kill you..." _literally. _He clapped my shoulder passing by me.

"Go change." Alice was still in front of me scrutinizing my every word and movement. "We have class in two minutes."

"It's our first class." She exclaimed faking shocked. "It's not like they are going to make us do anything else but watch." She muttered going to the locker room.

I turned around and walked into the gym. Most of the kids were standing by the edges of the room and chatting loudly. Further away three boys were playing basketball. I recognized one of the minds, or rather a lack of ability to read it. The guy just shot a perfect ball into the basket when the coach came in.

The man was in his middle fifties but perfectly fit. His thoughts were last proof if I ever needed one that he was former military. Jasper was going to like this lesson more than any others...

Everybody gathered around the man without even a command. My siblings stood on my sides as if now I was a possible threat that needed constant watching.

"Alright. Today we are playing volleyball. Last time you were assigned to teams, so go and don't cause any trouble." He barked loudly and the kids dissipated in the room. My family, I and for some reason the mysterious boy were still standing in our spots. "Maton. It's so nice that you finally decided to grant us an honor of seeing you in this class." The man angrily hissed at the boy. I certainly had no wish of getting on his wrong side... Human he was, he was more than able to get us into trouble.

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." The boy wasn't tensed or anything but his attention was solely for the man.

"And where is that girl of yours?" The coach grunted out irritated.

"She didn't feel well, thus she went home..." The kid trailed off carefully. So there was something wrong with the girl. Though she seemed fine during lunch. Maybe there was something more serious than I could see from the first look? I would have to find out what was off... Wait! Did the man just call her _his_? I sighed in sadness; I needed no other proof that the two of them were a couple. But maybe if she was in gym and we had music together... Just maybe she would notice me after some time??? I could be hopeful, couldn't I?

"Does she ever feel right before gym?" The man was angry and glanced around the room. He took a breath to calm down and turned to me and my siblings. He looked us over and Alice felt disgusted in her mind. Though the man was barely wondering why we were in our casual clothes rather than our sportswear. "You. Change. Three minutes. Then I want you back in here." He barked as if we were in the army.

"What if we don't have what to change?" My sister asked in simple tone. She clearly needed her visions back.

"Then take off your shoes and do everything barefoot. I don't care." He harshly snapped at her. Alice, honestly shocked and insulted, stomped to the locker rooms. Grin spread across my face, it was so easy to irritate her. "You too. NOW!" He yelled at me. Somebody had to tell him that we were not in the military. Though I didn't think anyone was brave enough to do that... I followed my sister and brother to get my sneakers. Why did I have to leave my sportswear at home?

When we came back, the boy Maton was laying with a ball in his hands. Looks like he was waiting for us, and he wasn't the only one. Didn't that man have anything else to do?

"Late. Next time be ready before class if you don't want to stay after the bell." He grumbled. After class? Was he kidding? This was our last period! "You and you" he said pointing at Alica and Emmett, "will be on one team. You and Maton" he turned to me, "will be on another team. That's for the rest of this school-year. Maton!" The boy was at my side instantly. "Take that ball to that net and don't cause any havoc. You go with him." He barked orders as if we were in the army under his command.

We all went to the net, and Maton passed the ball for Emmett to serve. This was supposed to be a game for competition; how was he going to win while being a gentleman? My brother eagerly took the round thing and cracked his knuckles. Alice and I rolled our eyes at him. We were vampires, so there was no chance for us to play the ball with our full force or speed. And since they were both perfect players, there was no way for me to beat them. Even though I could read their minds, I did have to let the boy play as well.

Emmett served the ball, and I slowly for our kind but fast for human eyes hit it back. My brother and I played with the little round thing for a few minutes never letting the thing fall down. Alice was more than content to stand a little aside and watch us; there was no way she was crumpling her clothes. The boy was also watching us silently analyzing our movements. His posture slightly reminded me of Jasper's when he was scrutinizing someone's moves in order to determine the best strategy how to win.

Watching the boy I got distracted enough for Emmett to hit the ball to another part of my side where I couldn't save it without moving too fast. The worst thing was that my brother hit the ball so hard that it went flying too high for a normal human to jump up to catch it. What happened next left me astounded.

Clearly I couldn't get to the ball in time to save it, so I stayed in my place following the round thing only with my eyes. Maton jumped up, turned upside down and hit the ball down with the top of his feet. And then he perfectly landed on the ground as if this was nothing special. The interesting part, I was certain that the only reason why I saw him move was that I was a vampire. The ball flew past Emmett's left ear and bounced across the room to stop at the teacher's feet. My siblings and I followed the round thing make its way away from us with our mouths open. We turned to the boy to see him mischievously grinning. If I didn't know better, I would have said that his smugness was caused by the fact that he just managed to beat two vampires in a game of sports. I quickly shook the thought away; there was no way for him to know what we were.

"Maton!" The coach yelled through the entire gym storming our way. I took a slow step backwards as did my siblings. For some reason I was sure that leaving the man and the boy alone would the best thing we could do... "This game is called volleyball! VO-LLEY-ball! NOT football!"

"Yes sir. Sorry sir." The boy's grin wavered so little that even I wasn't sure about it.

The man threw the ball to the kid. "Serve it with HANDS!" He barked and turned around walking away.

"Who wants to play ball?" Maton smiled again turning the ball in his hands. Only now I noticed that he wearing leather gloves. I remembered him having them on back in Music class but I didn't note it back then. Even if it was rather chilly back in our previous class, and it was not, there was no way for him to be cold in gym! Why would he wear gloves when it was actually hot?

The bell rang and all students slowly left to change and go home. Alice and Emmett walked away leaving Maton and me alone.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked the boy. He had exchanged the volleyball for a basketball, and was now facing the closest basket.

He turned to me with a surprised look on his face. "No. You go ahead. I want to shoot a few more balls." He nodded to me and ran off to the basket.

I watched him for awhile longer. His speed wasn't impressive, but it wasn't difficult to tell that his movements were practiced to perfection: every step he took, every swing he made with his hands, even every ball he threw. They were simply and plainly perfect. Being a mere human, he wasn't supposed to be that good.

I took a breath and shook my head dismissing any incredible thoughts. He was a human and there were no other possibilities. I turned around and left the gym to change and go home.

**

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Thank you for reading! The song was 3 by Britney Spears. If you want something specific to happen or some song to be on a chapter, tell me and I will try putting it in. Most importantly, let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general, and if you liked it or not.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello.**

**Not as long chapter as the last time, but still there are things happening, more questions to answer.**

**I noticed a few mismatches, so I'm replacing the last chapter. I hope never to have to do this again. SORRY.  
**

**Thank you all for your reviews.**

**Enjoy!**

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I spent the night and the weekend in my basement listening to the old classical music. Eve had wanted for us to write a song together, but there was no way I was doing that. Besides, there was no point in it anyway: after Friday's performance the old lady wasn't going to call us any time soon.

On Monday when we arrived to the school's parking lot, there were hardly any cars. Only an old red BMW and the blue Audi with the Ducati from the last week. Jasper pondered on an idea to find out who was the owner of the motorcycle and if the person was a student, maybe he could convince the kid to let him go for a spin. Eventually my siblings went inside while I waited for the beautiful girl to show up. Students and teachers came and went, but the gal was nowhere to be seen. Was she sick again? Not that she had seemed one on Friday, but maybe she got worse? No matter how much I disliked the thought, but I would have to ask the boy. The bell rang, and once again I dashed for my first period.

My first few classes were boring as usually. With one exception, when my Maths teacher tried teaching us a new theme in Spanish. It wasn't a problem for me, but half of my class were studying French. It was a little amusing to see the students try making out something worth the trouble from the teacher's terrible pronunciation. Other than that, nothing new happened till the last period before lunch, Biology.

The lesson started as always. I was sitting by the open windows and there was a little cold breeze. Everything would have dragged till the end, but someone from the back of the room asked to close the window. I sighed and shut the windows close. When I took my place, my senses registered the familiar scent. My head snapped around the room, and there she was. Sitting alone, three desks away from me and taking notes like every good student should. I turned back to the front of the class and spent the rest of my time pondering on what I was going to tell her. Despite my complete failure to formulate a coherent sentence during the first time I met her, this was the first time I was going to talk to her. And for once none of my siblings were around. Luckily Alice no longer had a way to see what I was going to do or she would have had my head, literally.

When the bell finally rang signaling our freedom, all students got up to leave the class. I threw my things in my bag and rushed to the girl before she could escape.

"Hi. Long time no seen." I smiled at her careful not to show my teeth.

She raised her head and smiled back at me. "Hi. Not so long. We did see each other on Friday."

"Well yes, but you weren't in Biology last time." She was so breathtaking... What were my planed questions for her?

"Yes. On Friday I only came for my Maths test and Music." She answered just to keep the conversation going. Good, it meant she was not avoiding me.

"But today you are here for your all classes?" Suddenly all my preparations evaporated from my head. The only thing I had in my mind was a desperate attempt to prolong our talk.

"Yes. Today I am not going anywhere." She flashed another brilliant smile, and there was nothing else I could do for some time but stare at her.

"Even Gym?" I remembered the appealing possibility to have more lessons with her.

She playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes, I guess I can no longer escape that one as well." I needed to form something smart to say, but I couldn't rip my eyes off of her beautiful face, and this was not helpful. I stood there looking like an idiot scrutinizing her for who knows how long till she finally lost her patience. "Did you want something else?" Her voice was gentle. I would have given anything just to be able to listen to her all the time. But right now I had to say something.

"Um, no. Nothing." My voice was distant even to me. I stared at her some more.

"You wanted me to show you the cafeteria or maybe you have some questions about your homework?" She wasn't used to being looked at so openly, but how could I help it if she was so mesmerizing?! What did she just ask me? Homework? Help? Me? I had been over this program more times than she had opened her books.

"No. I'm good." I stated lamely still gazing at her. Wait! Cafeteria? Alice was going to kill me! There was no way my sister was going to miss me entering the canteen with the girl. "I should probably go. My siblings are waiting for me. I'll see you in Music?" My voice became too hopeful without my permission.

"Yes, I guess I'll see you there." She smiled and I unwillingly turned around to get out of there as quickly as I could, in human speed of course.

I entered the cafeteria to see my brothers and sisters already sitting by out table. At least they had gotten my 'food' as well. I slowly dragged myself to them and took my seat between Alice and Emmett.

"Do I want to know where you were?" My favorite sister asked matter-of-factly.

"I was in my Biology class." I took my glass of water and put it to my lips. Not that I was going to drink it, but I could always pretend to be thirsty for something more than blood at school.

"And the girl coming in just now has nothing to do with your delay?" Rosalie pressed her lips into a thin irritated line.

What could I say? They obviously knew that the two of us had the same lesson. I just shrugged and bore my eyes into the poor excuse for food in front of me silently watching the mysterious girl, whose name I still didn't have, through the eyes of the other students'. She was graciously leaning with her back to the table by Maton. They were looking at each other and laughing about something. It never stopped to amaze me how well they knew each other; most of the time there was no need for words between them. My love and I had never achieved this level of understanding.

"We don't have a song for today." Eve was debating if this was enough for a reason to ditch the class.

"Doesn't matter. The teacher won't ask us anyway." I murmured to make sure that we were not missing the lesson. I was not throwing away a chance to watch the beautiful girl. "Besides, we should be going. The class is in ten minutes." I picked up my tray and disposed of it quickly leaving the frowsty room.

When I entered the class, most of the kids were already there. I took my seat happily resolving not to move from it for the rest of the lesson. The annoying bell rang, and the old lady turned to us walking to the centre of the room.

"Hello." She smiled looking over the class. "I can see that we are missing some of us." The beautiful girl and Maton wasn't there. Maybe she felt sick again, and he took her to the nurse? I should have waited for her outside the cafeteria... No! She did have a friend who was taking care after her. Not that he was doing a good job, and I certainly could do a lot better, but still...

Just then the doors slightly opened and the two quickly slipped into their places.

"Nice to see you here after all." The teacher gave them a slightly annoyed smile. Punctuality was more than important to her.

"Sorry." They both muttered in a perfect unison. Not only they needed no words to communicate, but they even talked unanimously! What hope could I have to get her attention...

"So, as I was saying before being brutally interrupted." The lady looked back at the class. "Today we will see what your songs are worth when the audience has no idea about the meaning behind the lyrics. Any volunteers?" She hopefully looked around the room, but everybody stayed still and quiet. "People!" Her eyes glided to the beautiful girl and the boy by her side. I would have done anything to be in his place. "How about our two late friends?"

"We did say sorry." Maton exclaimed in complaint. Obviously he had no wish of singing in front of the class. Not that I could blame him... The girl sighed and still being under the gaze of the teacher nudged his arm to move. They both slowly stood up, and the mysterious gal moved to the drums. "But we will need more than one instrument..." The guy trailed off hopeful to get away from singing.

"You two can use as many as you manage." The lady smiled at him, and he hung his head walking over to the electric guitar.

He strummed the guitar, and the girl started lightly drumming giving the rhythm. It wasn't a fast one, but not a lullaby either. Maton took a breath.

_"Ich hatte schon längst keine Hoffnung mehr" _His voice boomed over the class. I had never heard a human to have such strength.  
_"Doch jemand hat dich geschickt, von irgendwo her  
Du hast mich gefunden,  
in der letzten Sekunde." _WOW! His voice was strong. He needed no microphones to be easily heard in entire room.

_"Ich wusste nicht mehr genau was zählt  
Nur: es geht nicht mehr weiter, wenn die Liebe fehlt  
Du hast mich gefunden,  
in der letzten Sekunde." _He closed his eyes to focus solely on lyrics and music, and not to have to look at our gawking faces.

_"Du bist das Pflaster für meine Seele  
Wenn ich mich nachts im Dunkeln quäle  
Es tobt der Hass, da vor meinem Fenster  
Du bist der Kompass wenn ich mich verlier',  
du legst dich zu mir wann immer ich frier'  
Im tiefen Tal wenn ich dich rufe, bist du längst da._

_Ich hatte schon längst den Faden verloren,  
es fühlte sich an wie umsonst geboren,  
ich hab dich gefunden,  
in der letzten Sekunde._

_Und jetzt die Gewissheit, die mir keiner nimmt,  
wir waren von Anfang an füreinander bestimmt,  
wir haben uns gefunden,  
in der letzten Sekunde." _His voice was just as mesmerizing as the girl's. I could do nothing but listen to him craving to hear at least one more word.

_"Bevor du kamst war ich ein Zombie,  
gefangen in der Dunkelheit,  
du holtest mich aus meinem Käfig,  
dein heißes Herz hat mich befreit." _He fell silent still playing his guitar, and they slowly finished the song.

I shook my head to get off his charm. Maton and the mysterious girl were the only ones who had ever managed to put such a spell on me.

The teacher started slowly clapping also amazed by his voice. If he was a vampire, he would have been able to kill an entire concert hall without anyone noticing a thing. Luckily he was just a human... I joined in the applause because the two were definitely worth it. A few moments later the rest of the students also started clapping. Eve was the only one to remain still; she couldn't believe that they were the ones to get such a reaction after their performance, and she had been simply excused to go back to her place the time before.

Maton and the girl put down the instruments and awkwardly stood in front of the class waiting for their chance to slip back to their seats.

"Well done! I couldn't be more right in my choice today. This was German, correct?" The old lady shone with excitement. She nodded to their desk, and they quickly walked to their places. "Unless there are any more male solos, though I could hardly believe someone being better than my dear here, we will move back to girls. Seeing that the last time we learned how to count, let's get to know the days of a week. Or anything else you feel like singing about. You have your homework. Class dismissed." She clapped her hands and looked us over for questions. There were none, and she turned away to her desk.

Kids took this as their cue to get out of there and everybody scrambled to their feet. I took my bag and went to my locker to get my sportswear. There was no way I wanted to get on the coach's nerves.

I barely got back to the locker room when Maton went out already dressed for the training. How could he change so quickly? There was something seriously weird about him and the beautiful girl.

I went to the gym to see irritated Emmett eying the strange boy. My brother couldn't get over the fact that he had been beaten by a human in a sports of speed and force. On any other day I would have teased him, but now I had my own unanswered questions about the couple.

The lesson slowly dragged on because we, boys, were given freedom to play volleyball or do any other exercises of our wish. I wanted to talk to Maton, but he somehow managed to escape me whenever I 'accidentally' got close to him. The girls were shooting balls to the baskets to get their passes for basketball. Eventually I found a remote corner where I could watch everyone. Alice got her pass without a problem, but the mysterious girl had a lot of trouble. She only barely made it. Maton should have taught her long ago how to toss a ball. His techniques were impeccable. Come to think of it, so were hers, though she still somehow managed to miss.

The bell rang and we slowly went to get changed. Again, somehow Maton managed to put his clothes on faster than anyone else. He went outside, and strangely my huge brother followed him out. The latter was still fuming for the Friday's lost game and was looking for a way to pick on the kid. I could only hope that his imagination would suddenly go dry.

Finally I left the locker room only to see one of the worst problems I could ever imagine happening at school. Apparently Emmett didn't find a way to tease the boy, so he decided to turn his rage to the mysterious girl! He had been teasing her about managing to miss those few balls when Maton came to her back fuming at my brother's foul manners. The boy looked like he was about to punch my idiotic brother. I would have gladly done that myself if not for the gal, then just to avoid all the inconvenient questions that were sure to follow the guy's broken bones. And I was sure that Carlisle wouldn't be happy to be called to come to school for our behavior at the very beginning of his work in Forks' hospital. No, this wouldn't end nicely to any of us.

Luckily and at the same time strangely, the girl turned to Maton and locked her eyes with his. Her look was grateful and kind rather than being angry or sad because of my brother.

"Thank you." She murmured lowly and gently putting her hand on his chest. They gazed at each other for some time. By then all the students from the gym were gathered in the corridor watching and waiting for a fight. For some reason they had been expecting Maton to get into a fight and there was no better opponent than my brother. Apparently the boy had been too overprotective about the girl to get away from trouble any longer. A strange thing was that there was a week separating their times when they enrolled into this school, and there were no thoughts about the two having anything in common at the very start. Only that they became very close very quickly. Though I couldn't disagree with a thought that other guys should be given a chance to try their luck, especially if the guy in question was me. In most of the kids' opinions, Maton had been extremely lucky to avoid fights for so long.

"Come on. Bring it on." My foolish brother challenged the boy with a smirk on his face. Now we were seriously in trouble.

At that moment either my hearing went haywire, or I could actually hear a low threatening growling coming from the boy. But it was gone before I could concentrate on it, and neither Emmett nor anyone else had heard it at all. I glanced around, and there were strange shapeless shadows quickly shimmering for a few seconds. They were dark and translucent, and moved too fast for anyone else to notice them. Ghosts?! There was no such thing..! I shook my head and the things were gone. Maybe my hearing was going haywire along with my sight? Or was I losing my sanity..?

"No." The girl's stern voice whispered looking at the boy. Even I had problems hearing it.

The lad glared at my brother a little longer before dropping his eyes to meet the gal's. After a few minutes he sighed and relaxed still frowning.

"Alright." A sudden smile appeared on his lips, and his eyes got a shade of mischief. Emmett grinned victoriously; at least now he was going to be able to brag about how the boy ran away from fighting him. Maton, on the other hand, put his palms together ready to take his gloves off with an expression on his face that was promising nothing good. "Then I will just shake my hands with him." Shake hands? When my brother was begging for a punch? What was wrong with this kid?!

"What makes you think I want to shake hands with _you_?" Emmett asked with his voice laced with poison.

The couple, however, paid no attention to him. The two had eyes only for each other. "No! We don't do that." The girl's mesmerizing voice turned rigid. "Let's go." She took his hand and dragged him outside. Maton barely grabbed their bags, effortlessly I should say, and followed the girl.

"That was strange." Emmett murmured in the direction of the two children.

"No kidding." I was too dumbstruck to talk. What had just happened here? I could get the almost-fight. But the handshake? And even so, what was the problem in that? Come to think of it, this was the first time that Maton had been willing to take off his thick leather gloves, and for some reason the girl strongly opposed that. There was something really wrong in here.

**

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Thank you for reading. The song is Pflaster by Ich und ich. ****If you want something specific to happen or some song to be on a chapter, tell me and I will try putting it in. Most importantly, let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general, and if you liked it or not.**

**Merry Christmas, have a nice celebration!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello.**

**Happy New Year to everyone. Sorry for not updating sooner, but I have had exams till now.  
**

**The books mentioned in this chapter do not exist in reality; they are just a part of this story.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

When we got home, Esme was waiting for us. She didn't take long to notice my bad mood and Emmett's grin.

"What happened?" Her voice as well as her thoughts became alarmed. I wasn't exactly the one socializing the most, so any conflict involving me was a heartache for her.

"Emmett almost got into a fight. He did his best to provoke a boy, but another student stopped the kid from lunging." I did my best to make my voice nonchalant. There was no need for her to know who exactly the two children were.

_Thank God this has nothing to do with the girl. _"Dear," she turned to my huge brother who was decent enough to get that smirk off his face, "we have talked so many times about fighting in school. Carlisle and I do not mind if you wrestle with your brothers outside, but humans are fragile."

"Sorry mom." That idiot always knew what to say to get off the hook. He hugged Esme, and our mother let the subject drop.

After a moment she stepped back and glanced at me. I stopped in my track on my way to the basement.

"Honey, I found the book you have been looking for. _The Day and Night._" The book had been released in a limited edition about eighty years ago and because of Eve's appearance into our lives, I wasn't able to read it at the time. When I was finally free to do whatever I wanted, there were no copies left, not even on eBay. The novel was about two lovers from completely different backgrounds. Strangely enough the plot or text weren't shallow. I could find so many analogies between the story and my own experience with the centre of my existence. Sadly, the book was never promoted in any public events, and the author had signed it with her pen name, for I would have loved to discuss it with her.

My mother turned to Jasper who was hopefully looking at her. "I'm sorry, but they didn't have your book." He sighed and turned back to Alice. My brother had been searching for _The Civil War: both sides._ It was a very scarce edition published even before my book. I would have loved to read that one too because it covered the subject better than any other publication being fair to both the Union and the Confederacy. Actually it was one of the best books while learning about the subject at school or even in university studying American History.

I looked around for my book. "It's on your stereo." Esme sadly smiled at me showing in her mind a nice dark green parcel lying on my sound system in the basement. Thankfully she had decided not to torment me further by forcing me to be in the same room as Eve.

I gladly dashed for the novel diving into the marvelous story.

Next thing I noticed was morning and my mother calling me to go to school. Unfortunately it was only Tuesday, and I had to get to my classes instead of forgetting everything while reading the book.

I went upstairs to have a shower and change my clothes. When I came out, Eve slipped me a page with some writings. I glanced at it to see another song's lyrics. Luckily it wasn't completely disastrous like the last time.

"Our teacher won't let us sing so soon after our last performance." I wasn't eager to get in front of the class again. "There are other students who need to perform as well."

"She let those two brats perform twice. And this song is exactly what she asked." My annoying blond sister was still not over the fact that the mysterious couple had received more applause than she did.

"Whatever. But I'm not singing." I pulled my Volvo down the driveway.

When we arrived at school, there were more cars than any other time, but we were still way too early for our classes. Like before, my siblings went inside, and I stayed by the car waiting for the beautiful girl to come. Watching students and teachers come and go, I looked around; the blue Audi was there, but I couldn't see the black Ducati. For some unknown reason those two vehicles seemed important for me.

About five minutes before the bell I saw the motorcycle come into the parking lot and stop by the blue car. The rider dismounted his vehicle and took off his helmet. To my dismay he was Maton. Looks like the boy had everything I or my brother wanted: the most beautiful girl, amazing motorcycle and not the worst appearance without having to go through being a vampire. My self-esteem could only hope that his intellect was nowhere near mine, but of course I didn't have to worry about that. After all he was merely a human.

I waited a bit longer for the girl to show up, but she never came. Maybe she was late again? The bell started ringing, and I dashed for my first lesson.

I could hardly contain my anxiousness throughout all those boring classes till I could see the mysterious gal in Biology. I walked into the classroom and took my seat; as most of the time I was sitting alone. She came in just before the bell closely followed by the teacher. I wanted to talk to her so much, but the man started the lesson, and I had no chance to get her attention. I spent the entire time of the class planning out my speech to her. I had so many questions; though I also had to make myself tear off my eyes from her at least once in awhile.

When the bell rang I threw my things into my bag and was about to make my way to the girl. Unfortunately my luck was over today; the teacher wanted to talk to me. I glanced at the man, and he motioned for me to come closer. Throwing my last glance at the beautiful girl leaving, I walked to the teacher. He was in his mid-fifties and had already started getting bald. I put my features into a friendly mask; he was after all one of the best and friendliest teachers in this school.

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?" My voice was respectful but not cold.

A warm and friendly smile appeared on his face, and his eyes got a shade of understanding. The features that a hopeless student, who couldn't learn a thing no matter how much he tried, would get. "Yes, Edward. I noticed that you were very distracted today hardly taking any notes. Maybe there is something I could help you with? You know... if you don't understand something."

I barely stopped my self from rolling my eyes; I had been over this material tens of times. There was no way I could forget it even if I wanted to. "Thank you. But I understand everything. And my father is a doctor; he will help me if I ever need." I smiled at the man. Usually I would have felt insulted whenever a teacher insinuated that I needed help with my studies, but this man was truly willing to explain everything to me as many times as it would have taken for me to understand this material.

"Alright." He nodded. "But if you ever need anything, I am here all day. You can come after classes if you don't want your friends to see you here."

"Thank you." I nodded eager to get to the cafeteria as soon as possible.

The teacher nodded back with a genuine smile, and I left as quickly as I could without raising any suspicions.

When I entered the cafeteria, it was already full of people, and my siblings sat at our table. At least they had gotten my tray of food. I walked to them and took my seat between Alice and Emmett facing the room. Further away I could see the mysterious couple laughing at something. Were they ever serious while being in the cafeteria?

"Anything interesting?" My huge brother looked at me watching the kids.

"I can't figure them out." I tiredly sighed; this was getting ridiculously frustrating. Why was I so interested in that girl?

"Alright. Maybe if you see that she is only a mere boring human gal, you will get over your newest obsession." Rosalie took a breath and turned her irritated eyes to me. I could certainly do with more information. "What do we know so far?"

"I can't see around them." Alice grumbled, and Jasper put his hand on her shoulders to show his support.

"They are probably descendants of those dogs. So we have no problems as long as they don't start phasing." Rosalie shrugged indifferently.

"We might have quite a few issues if they start doing that in the middle of the school." Jasper's tone became alarmed. He didn't like the thought of not being able to ensure Alice's safety like he wanted.

"I don't think that they have anything in common with those dogs; their scent is different. It is the best fragrance a human can have yet not scorching; it is nothing like those dogs' stench." Everybody turned to me.

"You have been really watching them closely, haven't you?" Rosalie was once again irritated with me. "What else?" she turned to the others.

"The guy's called Maton." Jasper put in his observations. "Everybody addresses him like that: teachers and students. The boys are jealous to him because of the girl sometimes, but other than that they don't seem to mind him. Actually most of the time they are quite friendly with him and enjoy his company. And he is just like every other boy; he can hardly stay awake from boredom during Math, but he does get all the questions correctly as if he knew all the answers by heart." My brother slightly frowned at the end just now realizing that being a genius wasn't so common for normal humans.

Emmett decided to chirp in. "He is always wearing gloves and is a true coward." My idiotic brother grinned as widely as he could.

"Actually he didn't want to withdraw from punching you. The girl made him." I turned my sceptical look at him. There was no question that he would have won the fight, but there was another weird thing about the boy. "But back in the gym on Friday when we were playing volleyball, his speed was incredible for a human." My huge brother snorted at that, but it was true; I couldn't think of a simple explanation for what the kid had done. "One moment he was standing perfectly straight then another second he was in the air upside down kicking the ball. And the thing bounced up and down to the very end of the gym. When I turned back, he was standing as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary." I still couldn't figure out what had happened back then, or to be exact _how_ it had happened.

"Her name is Carlie." Alice whispered, and now we all turned to her. What was she talking about? "We sit together in History." She shrugged nonchalantly.

My sister knew the gal?! "And you didn't tell me?!" I exclaimed so loudly that the students sitting by the nearby tables turned to look at us. "You knew her name, and you couldn't even mention that? Not even in your mind?" I lowered my tone, but it wasn't any friendlier than before. Jasper quietly growled at me, and I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down.

"You never asked me." Alice innocently shrugged again. "Besides, it's not like we know anything else about her. Though our History teacher mentioned that we will have to do some project in pairs; maybe I will find out something more about her then." Her curiosity peeked, but she was quick enough to hide it from me.

"Why are you so suddenly interested in her?" I narrowed my eyes on the sister in question.

She bit her lower lip pondering on whether to tell me or not. Finally she sighed. "She has a great sense of fashion. And I can't find any of the clothes she is wearing in any shops. I mean that I can find famous designers' attire very similar to hers, but somehow her clothes don't have the annoying details that are ruining everything. Or, on the contrary, they have something making them look so much better than what I can find." She sighed annoyed. "I would love to go shopping with her and talk about fashion."

"But you are always beautiful. You don't need her." Jasper whispered in his lover's ear. He didn't want for her to get close to people whom he couldn't quite understand.

"By the way, the Ducati belongs to Maton." I motioned my head towards the parking lot. Jasper's head shot up, and he thoughtfully frowned now pondering on how to get close to the boy. "And since you are Emmett's brother, I don't think the kid will be eager to lend you his motorcycle." My lips turned into a grin; now he also had something to gain from getting more friendly with the couple.

"Whatever." Rosalie sighed; she had no intentions of talking about the kids ever again. "Let's go. We have classes in five minutes." She grumbled and got up. Emmett followed right behind her like a puppy.

Come to think of it, I would have gladly followed my love if I had a chance. Alas I was stuck in here without a tiniest hope of ever seeing the centre of my existence ever again.

Eve also got up. She had been unusually quiet; apparently she was practicing the new song in her mind all that time. Well, she never did care about the kids other than how to show that she was better than them; though she was anything but better.

I threw away my tray of untouched food and went to my favorite class.

When I took my seat, I glanced at the lyrics again; I did have to think of a decent melody for them. I could only hope that after the failure that was doomed to happen, Eve was going to calm down and maybe even stop trying to impress everybody else for awhile.

The couple that I now knew as Carlie and Maton came in just before the bell. They sat down in their usual places and turned for the teacher.

The old lady clapped her hands getting everyone's attention. "Hello my dears. I hope you had a good day yesterday." Her smile was big and bright. "Any volunteers to perform today?"

Eve's hand shot up. "We want" she exclaimed happily.

Both I and the teacher cringed inwardly. She hopefully glanced around looking for anybody else; she had no wish of inviting us today or any time soon. But it's not like she could refuse, "Of course. The floor is yours." She forced a smile and move aside.

Eve enthusiastically skipped to the middle of the class, and I dragged behind her. I barely got to take a guitar in my hands when she started.

_Dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum ah  
dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum ah_

_Dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum ah  
dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum_

I started strumming the guitar in a vain attempt to make the song sound better.

_I will love you Monday  
and you will hurt me Tuesday  
I will kill you Thursday  
if you don't stop me Wednesday  
forgive you on a Friday  
reunion on a Saturday  
forgotten all on Sunday  
_

I knew it was terrible, but at least it wasn't as horrific as the last time.

_356 day's of a year  
running around, running around  
and going nowhere  
356 day's and nights  
356 tries to make it right_

_Dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum ah  
dum dee dudedum da  
dum dum de de dudedum ah_

If she thought that she was making an impression to the students, she was terribly wrong. Her voice might not be the worst thing they had ever heard, but her intelligence or rather the lack of it was only too obvious.

_I will love you Monday  
and you will hurt me Tuesday  
I will love you Monday  
and I will kill you Thursday  
forgive you on a Friday yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah  
Friday.  
_

_356 day's of a year  
running around, running around  
and going nowhere  
356 day's and nights  
356 tries to make it right_

Luckily I was hiding behind the piano sitting by the wall, and I did have the guitar in my hands. In this way at least I didn't have to deal with all the sceptical looks from my classmates. I stopped playing, but my adoptive sister carried on for a little while.

_Dum dee dudedum da_

Finally she finished being very proud of herself. I got up and put the guitar back in its place.

"Well. This was different." The teacher began trying to find the right words how to encourage us to practice rather than perform in front of the others. "I am glad to see you improving. And it is impressive that you managed to write a song about such a trivial thing as weekdays..."

I tuned her out and glanced around. Carlie and Maton were having yet another quiet conversation; they didn't seem to be paying any attention to us or the teacher. I felt a painful pang I my heart, for the girl didn't think of me worth any notice.

I glanced back to the lady, and she let us take our seats.

"From now on I will be calling only those who haven't performed yet. Your homework is to write a song about freedom. Physical, emotional, religious... Any sort you can think of. And I will be calling at least two couples every lesson from now on. Plus I am thinking about one more exercise to develop your creativity on the spot. Any questions?" The lady glanced around looking at every kid. "Then you are free to go." She clapped her hands, and turned away from us.

The students took this as their cue to leave. I grabbed my bag and went to my locker to get my sportswear. When I finally came into the gym, most of the kids were already there. Alice and Emmett were watching Carlie and Maton. The latter two were chatting standing by the further wall while the boy was absentmindedly hitting a volleyball to the ground. Another interesting detail for most of the normal people have to pay at least a little attention to the ball while playing with it...

The coach came in, and everybody fell silent. "Volleyball. You all have teams. Move out." Short and loud orders; somebody really needed to tell the man that we were kids and not his soldiers.

I watched Maton come to us while Carlie went to a bunch of girls who were rambling about something like fashion.

"Same teams?" The boy grinned at my brother, and I didn't have to be a vampire to hear the low growling coming from the latter one.

"I bet that if we play one on one, I will win without a problem!" Emmett was letting his emotions roll uncontrollably. And of course he was going to win; he was a vampire after all. Though come to think of it, the little fact was not an issue the last time we played. Another question I needed solved.

"Unfortunately this is a game of teams. Maybe another time when we play something else?" Maton shrugged and tossed the ball between his hands paying no attention to the thing.

"Scared of loosing?" My brother grinned baring his perfect teeth while we were walking to our net. A normal human would coward away from the grimace. The fact I really hated was that I wasn't surprised when the boy barely narrowed his eyes for a moment seemingly evaluating my brother and then grinned back.

"Sorry," the kid shrugged again, "I have no wish of getting detention for playing not according to the rules." My brother wanted to suggest me and Alice to simply stand aside and not interfere, but Maton rolled his eyes and tossed the ball to the big guy. "You talk so much. Just serve."

We had barely said a few words, and he thought we were blabbering? Well thinking back, most of the time he was either laughing or listening to the others; even in the Music class he didn't seem to need words to talk to Carlie. Was it possible that they were both mind-readers? Very unlikely because they were both humans, but still... what if? Though in that way they would have figured out that we were vampires, and they didn't look like they knew this detail from our lives.

"Earth calling Edward! Your time to serve!" Maton shouted somewhere in the distance, and I barely turned to him when the ball was about to slam into my face. If I had been a human, I would have had a bloody nose. Luckily I was able to catch the thing just in time; of course not without getting a few chuckles from my siblings.

I threw the ball over the net for my brother to throw it back. We went on playing just the two of us for nearly an entire lesson. There were barely a few minutes left before the bell rang when Emmett punched the ball to fly straight at the boy. The worst part was that the round thing shot through the air with such force that it would have been incredible for a human to catch it and not hurt one's hands. For a moment there Maton seemed to be pondering on whether to hit the ball back, catch it or do something else. Eventually after a deep pondering that lasted less than a second, just when he was about to punch the round thing back, Maton simply stepped aside, and the volleyball hit the ground bouncing up almost to the high ceilings. We all watched the round thing fly away from us. How could the kid move so fast? And most importantly why, if this step meant him loosing?

"Well done," Maton irritated glanced at my brother, "now go and catch it." he motioned to the ball hitting the furthest wall. My siblings and I watched the boy walk away to the basketballs. Why would he do that if the lesson wasn't even done?

_Another troublemaker. Just great. _I caught the annoyed thoughts of our coach's just before the bell rang. I guess the kid had a perfect sense of timing... And he obviously didn't like us much. What had we done to him? Another thing, I could understand other children shying away from us because their natural self-defense instincts told them that we were dangerous, but this couple didn't seem to be afraid or even intimidated by us at all.

I dragged my siblings out of the gym before my brother could do something else. On my way out I noticed that Carlie had already left. Maybe now Alice would get her chance to chat with the girl in the locker room?

When I got out of the breathless room and into the fresh air of the parking lot, all my siblings were already there waiting for me.

"I take it no luck then?" I glance at my little sister. She only pressed her irritated lips into a thin line. The girl had disappeared before my sister could catch up with her. "We always have tomorrow." I grinned and got inside my car.

Tomorrow. For some reason this word seemed to be the core one when talking about the girl and the boy. All I had to do was make the two syllables into a slightly different formation: today. If only it was as easily done as it was said...

**

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Thank you for reading! The song was I will love you Monday by Aura Dione. If you want something specific to happen or some song to be on a chapter, tell me and I will try putting it in. I got a few suggestions, and at least one of them or a similar one will be on the next chapter. Most importantly, let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general, and if you liked it or not.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello.  
**

**Thank you all for your reviews and especially suggestions. I used two of them in this chapter. Sorry if they are not yours, but there is still a long story ahead, so keep them coming.**

**One more thing, Carlie is NOT Bella. Carlie and Maton are my original characters (sort of). And for now I do have no intentions of bringing in the pack.  
**

**Enjoy!**

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When we got home, Esme was sitting on an armchair and reading. There was a huge stack of books at her feet.

"Hello." I started carefully analyzing her thoughts about the story. "How many books exactly did you get yesterday?"

My mother sheepishly bit her lower lip. "A few..."

"What are they about?" Jasper took a novel sitting down on the couch and taking Alice together. "Another children's story?" He gave her a sceptical look.

Alice raised her understanding eyes, "I know that we aren't enough, but you also know that there will never be children in our family."

"Oh hush." Esme became defensive. "Just take this story and read it. It's so sweet and lovely, and it teaches the young ones how to behave..." Her thoughts as well as her voice became gentle and dreamy. "Some of these books even look like they have been written for vampire children." She smiled.

Rosalie snorted at this sitting on Emmett's lap on the couch at Jasper's side. "Vampires can't have children."

"But some of these things aren't very important to learn for normal human kids. I suppose any vampire newborn could use these books." Esme argued while I made my way to my room in the basement. "For example, how not to run too quickly because they can hurt other people while bumping into them, or not to fight with siblings indoors, for the furniture can be accidentally destroyed. Actually, Emmett, you should read these..."

I turned my music on to tune them out. Lately even Debussy was hardly enough to calm my mind. I needed to focus my mind on something so that I wouldn't spend entire night thinking about the love of my existence.

I decided to write a song for my Music class. The theme was freedom. Or at the same time the lack of it. Nowadays I was free to do anything I wanted. Everything except see the love of my life. I could go wherever I wanted, talk to whoever I wanted. All but the centre of my existence. The only thing I truly craved for. Her intoxicating scent, her scorching warmth, her chiming laughter, her mesmerizing blush, her amazing voice... Everything about her was all I really needed. All that I will never ever have.

My family's chatter was becoming ridiculously loud. I couldn't concentrate on anything! As always Eve was whining about me not paying her any attention, and the rest of my siblings gladly agreed that I was thinking too much about Carlie. Gladly they had no idea how right they were; all my thoughts were divided to the love of my existence, who occupied the biggest portion, Carlie, who was mesmerizing and interesting in her own way, and strangely Maton, who was like a nagging mystery I just had to figure out.

_'Edward' _Esme's gentle thoughts called me. I sighed and got up from the nearly finished song.

When I came into the living room the only difference was that I couldn't see Alice. She was upstairs talking with Eve about fashion. Jasper was pretending to read one of the stories, but his mind was focused on me. I sat on Esme's armchairs' side looking at the book she was reading. I had to admit that the pictures were sweet.

"How are you?" My mother's gentle voice brought me back to reality.

How was I? I had been doing my best not to thing about that for the last century. Every day seemed like the one before; every year was just like the previous one; every decade wasn't much different from the others. All in all... "You know. As usual." I shrugged.

"Eve mentioned that you are ignoring her." Even her soft tone wasn't enough to hide the accusation of the words.

"You know that I don't like her..." I couldn't keep the irritation away from my voice. We had been having these conversations for the last eight decades. To say the least they grew old long ago.

"But she loves you." Esme pushed, and I rolled my eyes. Oh yeah, my sister was a saint. The only reason she wanted me was to show off in front of the others; I was nothing more than a toy for her. Unfortunately Evelyn did have a talent to present herself to my family in the way she needed. "Honey, Bella was your first love. I know that it's difficult for you even to think about moving on, but you have to understand." Her pleading eyes would have been unbearable to look at had I not been through this exact conversations hundreds of times before.

"Mom." I whined like a child, but I knew that this was the only way to get away from her following speech. "Can we not talk about this today? Please?"

She sighed and gave me her sympathetic smile. "Alright." She decided to change her tactics. At least this would be something new... "Tell me about that girl." I frowned in confusion. I knew that she meant Carlie, but I couldn't see why would she want to talk about her. "The mysterious girl you were so fascinated about the other day." She prompted.

"Her name is Carlie. What about her?" I needed to know where she was going with this.

"She is the first girl you took interest in after Bella. I am curious." Her eyes were inquiring. I cringed at the name of my love; the marks in my heart where the centre of my existence had been ripped away from me where still too raw to be touched. "Tell me how does she look like, what kind of a person is she?"

"She is beautiful. Her eyes are deep brown, and her hair is chocolate brown. And her scent is the best a human could have, sweet and mouthwatering but not scorching." My voice against my will took on a dreamy shade. "She is smart; she always gets the answers correctly, and she studies a lot. Her voice is amazing; I can't tear my ears off of her when she sings. And her laughter. It's mesmerizing..."

"Another Bella." Rosalie sighed irritated. I let out a low growl, and Emmett's grip on his lover protectively tightened. "Don't you think that one human is enough for your life destruction purposes? One girl barely got away from you; now you want to take another one down with you? This obsession of yours is becoming very unhealthy not only for you but for us as well." Her annoyance towards me filled the room.

"I am not obsessed about her." I tried defending myself. "I am merely curious." I shrugged faking nonchalance.

"Haven't you heard a saying that curiosity killed a cat?" I had never seen my beautiful sister so protective about anyone else but herself. Let alone about a human. "And correct me if I'm wrong, but you did come back from Alaska to Bella because you were _merely curious_. Don't you think that emotionally wrecking one girl is more than enough?" Rosalie sneered at me. "Honestly I am almost proud of Bella that she managed to shake off whatever spell you had cast on her and left this place in the middle of nowhere. At least she had some hope of having a life."

This fueled Jasper's curiosity. "And what would need to have happened that you would feel completely proud of Bella." Just great. Now my life was open for everybody's debate.

Rosalie frowned for a moment thinking about various possibilities. Frankly I liked none of them. "Well, she was a magnet for trouble and jerks. Starting with that Mike Newton and then that Eric Yorkie. Of course our dearest idiot of a brother tops them all..."

"Rosalie." Esme rarely chastised us, but insults towards each other were not something she overlooked either.

Naturally my sister chose to ignore her. "So I wouldn't be surprised if she got pregnant from one of the many morons who were running after her. But it would be a pleasant turn, and she would certainly earn my respect if we were to learn that she didn't run to the guy and brought up the kids on her own." Rosalie mused over looking at no one in particular. Finally she turned to me with a sickening smile. "Luckily you are a vampire and can't have children. So we don't have to worry about this."

Ouch! Now this was low even for her. Her animosity towards the love of my life had seemed so natural that now I was left speechless. Of course it hurt like hell knowing that the centre of my existence was a lot better without me, but my family didn't have to bring it up all the time. Now it felt like salt on a fresh wound.

I slowly got up glancing between my family members, but none of them seemed to be willing to offer any support to me. "Take your own car to school. I'm going there now." I murmured passing my beautiful sister.

It didn't take more than five minutes for me to get to school. Passing by to enter the parking lot through the only way in, I noticed the midnight blue Audi stopping in its usual place. I pressed down the accelerator to park quicker, but when I finally stopped, there was no one around. No kids or teachers. That is at least I couldn't hear their thoughts or voices. Maybe tomorrow I would be lucky enough to meet the owner of the car, for because of some unknown reason it seemed important to me. I sighed getting out of my precious Volvo and looked around. Apart from a few bikes and the Audi there was nothing else there.

Today I decided to wander around. It's not like standing in the parking lot had paid out in any way before, so there was no point in continuance of doing that. I slowly walked past the empty school's buildings. There were a few early teachers getting ready for their lessons. My biology teacher was one of them so I scurried away. When I reached my Music class, the doors were open. I slowly approached making sure that whoever was inside would not see me.

Coming closer I heard piano being played. My music teacher was watching Carlie perform one of the many Andrea Boceli's songs on the piano. It was amazing how the girl managed to make the music sound like it was alive.

I had to tear myself away from the room and the beautiful flow of sound to make it to my first lesson.

As it had become usual nothing interesting happened till Biology. When I entered the room only a few minutes before the bell, the teacher motioned for me to come to him.

"Good afternoon, sir." I composed my features into a friendly and respectful arrangement.

"Good to see you, Edward." He smiled looking at me and then briefly glanced at Carlie who was taking her seat. "I thought about yesterday. Soon we will have a few practical assignments to do, and then come all the team works... So I was wondering if you could sit with Carlie because right now you both work alone, and she is a great student. Maybe she would be able to help you keep your focus on the material at hand. What do you think about it?"

The only thing I knew for sure was that as long as Carlie was in the same class as me, I was not about to start learning something as trivial as Biology or any other subject at school for that matter. "Sure. I'd love to."

"Good. Then take your seat..." he nodded towards the beautiful girl, "and we will start the lesson." The man smiled at me, and I gladly took my place at Carlie's side.

She was beautiful as always. Maybe even more if that was possible. She was wearing a midnight blue blouse that fit her perfectly and a black skirt which ended just above her knees.

"Hello." I started carefully and smiled at her making sure not to show my teeth.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn't notice you." She smiled back turning to me. Her scent hit me hard, and I had to slightly shake my head to get rid of the dizziness.

"It's alright." I slightly shrugged happy that she was actually talking to me. Of course it's not like we had a lot of time because the lesson was about to start, but I could always hope, couldn't I? "You're beautiful today."

"Thank you." She blushed a little and looked away for a moment. "You don't look so bad either."

Only now I noticed that her eyes were dark amber instead of deep brown like they were when I met her for the first time. But human eyes didn't change color. Ever. "Did you get contacts?" I asked bluntly and instantly regretted it. This was hardly a gentlemanly way of learning things. And I was out of air.

She frowned in confusion for a second, and then her smile turned into a playful one. "Close, but not exactly. Actually today I managed to forget them at home." She looked back into my eyes. "Did you?"

"Did I do what?" now an ability to read her mind would have been so useful... And taking a breath of her scent wasn't helpful to my thinking.

"Did you get contacts?" she repeated glancing between my eyes.

Somewhere at the back of my head a tiny voice was yelling at me to say 'yes', but I had no idea why I should lie about such a ridiculous thing. The mere thought about needing to improve _my _vision sounded ludicrously. "No." I wondered what brought on this question. "Why?"

"Last week your eyes were liquid gold, and now they are darker, more like amber." She was scrutinizing my irises. Ouch. Of course my eyes changed color; I hadn't hunted for almost a week. I just never thought that anybody would notice that. Humans shied away from us, and in my entire existence there had been only one other person to notice the shade of my eyes. The love of my life. She had caught me with almost exactly the same words.

In any way the teacher still needed half a minute to gather his thoughts and start the lesson, so I had to answer the question. "It's because of the fluorescence." I shrugged trying to look nonchalant. Her eyebrows arched into perfect semicircles showing her skepticism.

"Good afternoon class." Thankfully the teacher raise his voice, and everybody fell silent.

The man started his job with enthusiasm rarely seen anywhere else. Carlie started taking notes, and all my further attempts to talk to her were to no avail. Finally I settled down with watching her. If she didn't speak to me, then I didn't need air in my lungs. And this meant no need of breathing and unavoidably clouding my mind. I was more than happy just to look at her. The way she wrote was so fluent; it seemed like she already knew the material just as well as I did if not better. Of course it was impossible; she was only a student in a high school, and I had finished medicine studies more than granted it was over a century ago, but still... She would tuck away an astray strand of her hair behind her ear every now and then. Her scent was enough to intoxicate my mind, and now I was able to watch for an entire lesson; not that it was anywhere near enough to satisfy my curiosity or need of simply seeing her.

When the bell rang, some students shifted in their places, but the teacher wasn't done yet. He kept telling us the last things that were supposed to be in the following day's test. We were having a test? Glad to know that at least a day before writing it. After the man eventually let us go, I notice that there were only fifteen minutes left till our next class.

Carlie threw her things in her bag barely glancing at me, "are you going to the cafeteria?"

I did have to show up there, so as not to make my siblings worry or get anxious. I nodded my head.

"Come on then." She motioned with her head for me to follow her, and we were one of the first students to leave the room.

We hurried to the canteen without a word as quickly as humanly possible.

_'Finally.'_ Rosalie's irritated thoughts bombarded me when we entered the breathless room.

Carlie turned to the line for food, but I stopped her for a moment. "My siblings are waiting for me." I said apologetically. I didn't think that my family would take it well if I sat with the beautiful girl. At least not today.

"Oh. Of course." Her face fell just so slightly. "Then I'll see you in Music?" A hopeful smile graced her lips.

"Sure." I nodded, and slowly against all my will I turned to go to my siblings. I could see in my peripheral vision that she also walked away.

I took the only empty seat between Emmett and Evelyn. Instantaneously she put her hand on mine and leaned into me to show everybody who was watching that I was hers. My body automatically tensed up; I would have gladly shook her off, but I still had a role to play because this was the easiest way to get away from the rest of the female population of this school. The entire population now I wanted to escape except for a single person. Looking through various minds I found Carlie sitting with Maton and a bunch of other kids, all boys. They were discussing the upcoming Biology test and the questions that could be given to them. Somehow it no longer surprised me that the two always knew the correct answers. I had seen firsthandedly how easily the girl could find everything in the coursebook.

My patience sitting with Eve clinging on my arm quickly wore thin. I got up and walked out to my favorite class.

I was one of the first students to enter the room, so I took my seat ready for the few minutes left of waiting. Soon the rest of the kids came in. As always Carlie was laughing with Maton. How could they be in such a high mood all the time? Didn't they ever have bad days?

The old lady clapped her hands getting everybody's attention. This seemed to be the usual beginning of her lessons. "Afternoon class. I'm glad to see you all here. As I mentioned yesterday, this time we will hear two songs about freedom, and then we will try a game to see how well you can sing without any preparations." Her smile was bright and inviting. "Who wants to start?"

"Um... I guess we will have at some point." A boy on my left shyly raised his hand. He was of medium height with long dark curly hair tied into a pony tail on his back.

The teacher encouragingly nodded her head. "Adalbert and Rita the floor is yours." The woman gladly stepped aside thinking of a possible solo for today's second performance; I can't say that I liked her eyes sliding to me at that exact moment.

Adalbert and the girl at his side went on to perform a song of their creation. The second I heard them sing, I tuned them out.

I glanced around the class. Most of the kids were listening except for a few. Looks like I and Eve were not the only ones not worth Carlie and Maton's attention. The two had their hands on their desk moving their fingers in synchronization as if they were playing a piano. It was interesting to watch the girl looking at the boy's hands and trying to imitate his moves, a rather unusual way to learn how to perform a song. Two boys sitting further away were paying no attention to others as well; even the space between their desks was not enough to stop their chatter.

The music died down, and the teacher loudly exclaimed "beautiful! Well done! A little more practice with timing, and this will be a song worth notice." The lady clapped her hands excusing the pair and looking around for her next victim. I knew I should have paid more attention to the performance... "Edward, we haven't heard your voice."

"Um... We don't have a duet." Eve shifted at my side. She didn't want to make herself look like a fool as if she hadn't done that before.

"I do have a solo, I suppose." I murmured, and the teacher motioned with her hand for me to take the floor. I made my way to the piano, and slowly the gentle music started to flow.

_"I find the map and draw a straight line  
Over rivers, farms, and state lines." _Ocean, seas and country lines. Straight to Italy, Volterra.  
_"The distance from A to where you'd 'B'  
It's only finger-lengths that I see" _There is no place too far for my love.  
_"I touch the place where I'd find your face  
My fingers in creases of distant dark places." _For death is the only way for me to see you.

_"I hang my coat up in the first bar." _with wide windows and multiple stores, a place most people call home.  
_"There is no peace that I've felt so far  
The laughter penetrates my silence" _They never knew the worth of quietness.  
_"As drunken men find flaws in science_

_Their words mostly noises  
Ghosts with just voices" _gushing in my mind that I cannot escape.  
_"Your words in my memory  
Are like music to me." _That I can't stop thinking about.

_"I'm miles from where you are,  
I lay down on the cold ground  
I pray that something picks me up  
And sets me down in your warm arms."_

I slowly finished playing and waited for some reaction. It was a pleasant surprise to notice that both Carlie and Maton were listening to me. His expression was thoughtful whereas hers was almost compassionate.

"Amazing. You have a beautiful voice." The old lady was impressed like the rest of the class; it was a welcome change. "And the melody fitted well. Great job." She nodded for me to return to my seat, and I was glad to do just that.

On my way I noticed that Carlie and Maton were back to talking as well as the other two boys. The four seemed to have a lot to discuss today.

The teacher came to the middle of the room and glanced over us slightly stopping at the talkers. She was looking for the victims for her game. "I'm glad to see you are so willing to show us your voice, honey." She turned to Maton with a fake smile. The boy in question quickly turned to her clearly not expecting this; his eyes grew wide, and his whole posture froze. "Robert, Christian. It's so good that you want to help your friend." Her eyes glided to the two boys who were still quietly speaking. Just now they fell quiet and turned to her. "So. The aim of the game is to think of lyrics while listening to the music and having no idea where it will turn next. Most importantly you three will be singing one after another and then back to the first, thus you have to think of something decent that you would be able to continue. We will invite three more of your friends to play piano, drums and guitar."

At this point I slid down in my seat; I had no wish of playing again today, at least not in the class.

"Everything clear and easy to do." The old lady smiled reassuringly. Obviously her definition of easy was a lot different from the one the kids' had. "Now you three come to the front." She motioned for the boys. "We will ask for some help." The teacher glanced over the rest of us. "Adalbert, because you have already sang today, I want you to take the piano."

Maton and the other two boys came to the middle of the room. The first leaned into Rita and Adalbert's desk almost sitting on it and facing his two friends. Robert leaned into the piano whereas Christian contently stood in front of Maton's desk. Luckily my seat was in the very middle, so I had no problems in seeing everyone.

"Carlie can take the drums." Her faithful friend said with a confident smile. The girl grimaced rolling her eyes but took a seat by the instrument.

"We need somebody to play the guitar. Alexia, how about you?" The teacher looked at the girl on my left.

"Sure. No problem." The girl shrugged and went to the instrument. She was rather tall for her age with natural dark blond hair and light blue eyes. Her mind was not the friendliest place, and she was set to become better than Carlie, but she always played clean.

"Now all we need is a few specific words for these three to sing." The lady glanced back at us turning for the boy on my left. "Jason, give me a noun."

"Parade." The guy said quickly. There had been a some sort of parade in Paris the last weekend that he had watched on the Internet.

"Edward," the woman turned to me, and our eyes met. "Give me an adjective." She wanted a colour.

"Black" was the first one that came to my mind.

"Alright. We have a parade and black. These will be your words to work with, Maton. You begin, and I want it to feel personal." The boy in question slowly nodded. "Samantha, what will you give to your partner?"

The girl on my right shifted in her seat. "Watching, decimated dreams, misery and hate." She said happy with herself. The boy shouldn't have annoyed her earlier that day.

"Robert. Good luck." Our teacher looked at the boy leaning into the piano. He was the tallest from all of us; his dark eyes and short black hair were screaming to stay away from him, but in his mind he was one of the friendliest guys in this school. "Now Christian needs something." She turned for the girl sitting on my very right. "Monica, what will you give to your talkative friend?"

The girl bit her lower lip in thought. "Carry on, anthem, dead and gone."

And they had to make this into a single song...

"Perfect. We have everything we need. Adalbert, begin." The lady happily clapped her hands and stepped aside.

"Alright." Maton took a breath. "Let's make it loud." He smiled to his friends.

Adalbert started slowly and quietly playing the piano with his right hand. He wasn't making this easy for his friends. Maton sighed rolling his hands; he had to begin a song.

After a few moments of piano solo Maton began looking at his friends in front of him and slightly moving his hand in the air at the height of his shoulder, probably to get a better feeling of the music.

_"When I was a young boy," _His voice captivated everybody's attention at once.  
_"My father took me into the city  
To see a marching band." _He motioned with his hand and nodded to Carlie to begin. _  
"He said, "Son, when you grow up" _The drums started beating like during a march.  
_"Would you be the savior of the broken  
The beaten and the damned?"_

_He said, "Will you defeat them  
Your demons and all the non-believers  
The plans that they have made?" _By now he was hopefully looking at his friends ready to pass the baton.  
_"Because one day, I'll leave you  
A phantom to lead you in the summer  
To join the Black Parade." _The guitar joined in, and the boy not so happily rolled his eyes.

_"When I was a young boy," _His voice boomed at its loudest even though he tried to suppress it.  
_"My father took me into the city  
To see a marching band.  
He said, "Son, when you grow up  
Would you be the savior of the broken  
The beaten and the damned?" _The tempo changed, and Maton gladly motioned for Robert to take over.  
_  
"Sometimes I get the feeling" _His voice wasn't as strong as his friend's, but it wasn't a weak one either.  
_"She's watching over me,  
And other times I feel like I should go.  
And through it all, the rise and fall  
The bodies in the streets  
And when you're gone we want you all to know." _He had no idea how to continue, so he gladly nodded for Christian to start his part.  
_  
"We'll carry on, we'll carry on," _Surprisingly the boy didn't need time to raise his voice, and he easily joined in.  
_And though you're dead and gone, believe me  
Your memory will carry on, we'll carry on.  
And in my heart, I can't contain it,  
The anthem won't explain it" _Robert motioned with his hand that he was ready again.  
_  
"And while that sends you reeling" _I had to admit that no matter how different their voices were, they did sound rather good.  
_"From decimated dreams  
Your misery and hate will kill us all,  
So paint it black and take it back  
Let's shout out loud and clear  
Do you fight it to the end?" _Christian raised his hand to show that he would be continuing.

_"We hear the call to carry on, we'll carry on,  
And though you're dead and gone, believe me  
Your memory will carry on, we'll carry on.  
And though you're broken and defeated  
You're weary widow marches" _Ready to pass on, he raised his hands in defeat.

_"On and on we carry through the fears" _The two were rather good at intercepting, for Robert took over without any hesitation.  
_"Disappointed faces of your peers  
Take a look at me  
'Cause I could not care at all"_ Now both boys were looking at their friend; Maton took a breath.

_"Do or die, you'll never make me  
Because the world will never take my heart.  
Though you try, you'll never break me,  
We want it all, we wanna play this part" _All boys were ready to finish, but the music continued, thus they had no choice but to sing.  
_  
"Won't explain or say I'm sorry,  
I'm unashamed, I'm gonna show my scar.  
Give a cheer for all the broken  
Listen here, because it's only" _He quickly sucked in a lungful of air.

_"I'm just a man, I'm not a hero" _One more time his voice boomed over the classroom.  
_"Just a boy who wanna sing his song,  
Just a man, I'm not a hero" _Like on accord he suddenly fell silent, and Robert screamed out the last line.  
_"I don't care!"_

_"We'll carry on, we'll carry on" _Christian took his part.  
_And though you're dead and gone, believe me  
Your memory will carry on, you'll carry on,  
And though you're broken and defeated  
You're weary widow marches on._

_"Do or die, you'll never make me" _Maton took the lead to finish the song.  
_"Because the world will never take my heart,  
Though you try, you'll never break me.  
We want it all, we wanna play this part." _

His friends boomed over with 'We'll carry on', and he gladly joined in till the music finally died down.

Sighing the boys rushed to their places so as just not to have to sing again.

"Not bad. Actually quite well for a beginning." Unfortunately the teacher was quite satisfied with their performance today; a mental note for myself to be quiet in the future lessons. She turned to Maton. "The part about the father?"

He turned to her with a nonchalant expression, "I never really knew my father well." He shrugged dismissing the question. For some reason this was new to our teacher; looks like she didn't know anything specific about him other than his good results in school.

"Oh, well." The lady looked at him for a few more moments before turning to us. "Next time we are back to freedom. Get your songs ready and have a nice day." She smiled at us and turned around to her desk.

"Anthem, dead and gone?" Christian rolled his eyes at Monica.

"Come on. It was fun." Maton lightly chuckled taking Carlie's bag while passing his friend.

"Well, yeah." The boy agreed thinking about his buddy's verses. "I'm glad I didn't get the black parade." he winced at the end.

I had to admit that Maton had done a rather good job saving the song.

When the students piled up in the gym, the coach barked his orders "basketball today. Try some free throws and don't cause any trouble."

Maton was already playing with a ball in his hands. He went to the furthest hoop; this was a perfect chance to get him talking. He threw his first ball, and it nicely landed in the basket. Emmett and I played along till the end of the lesson. It was getting quite hot in there, but the boy didn't even think about taking his gloves off. They looked weird on his pale hands. A thing to be noted he and Carlie were almost as pale as we were. Vampirism put aside because of their heartbeats and scents, living in Forks was the only reason I could think of, but that didn't explain his speed. Another thing was that if Maton and Carlie were not related, like most of the school's population thought, their manners and talents were too similar for my liking.

"Maton." Emmett's patience was running low, and he wanted at least some answers. The boy turned to him. "Why do you always wear gloves?" The kid gave him a questioning look. "I mean don't you ever feel hot?"

"Oh, it's because I work out with weights a lot. The bruises on my hands don't look so good, you know?" He was clearly referring to my brother's muscles.

I could only hope that Emmett had seen something about this on TV because there was no way for us to injure ourselves while working out. I let out a breath of relief when the big guy nodded rather satisfied with the answer. The bell rang, and the boy ran out to the locker-room.

"That was a logical explanation." He murmured slowly walking out of the gym.

"Nice save." I nodded in agreement. "Apart for the detail that he looks like he has never even tried working out with weights." A simple question that brought in only more questions; the boy seemed unwilling to share his secrets or even answer the obvious question with truth.

**

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Thank you for reading. ****I'm sorry for all spelling mistakes; the keyboard on my laptop is breaking down. The fist song was Set the fire to the third bar by Snow Patrol, and the second one was Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. If you want something specific to happen or some song to be on a chapter, tell me and I will try putting it in. Most importantly, let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general, and if you liked it or not.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello. **

**Thank you all for your reviews and comments; they mean a lot to me.**

**This chapter wasn't the easiest one to write, but let's hope it isn't disastrous.**

**Enjoy!  
**

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Hunting trips were always the best reason to get away from my family without any attention, but after them I still had to go home.

I had been lying on my couch staring at the ceilings for the last few hours when my patience finally wore thin. "Alright, Alice. What do you want?" She had been debating about whether to ask me something or not for an annoyingly long time.

My favorite sister slowly and carefully came down the stairs and took a deep breath. "I've been thinking about Carlie."

"Really? I haven't noticed." My voice was laced with sarcasm.

Her eyes narrowed into slits for a few moments till she decided to simply ignore my reactions. "If you want to befriend with Carlie, I will help you." she stated in her casual tone.

I quickly sat up looking at my small sister. This I didn't expect; Alice had been thinking about how much she liked the beautiful girl, but her thoughts were far from being so straight and forthcoming. "Why?" There had to be a good reason behind this, and I wanted to know it before we started doing anything together.

My sister shrugged her little shoulders. "She is funny, friendly, interesting to talk to..." _She has a great sense of fashion and style! _"And you like her." She paused to see my reaction, but I decided to wait for her plan before responding. "Besides, have you noticed that the only people she ever sits with are guys? I am sure she could use a girlfriend. I would invite her over, and you could simply walk into my room to borrow something, or we could go shopping, and you could just happen to be there. And you two could take it from there..." _Of course only after she would tell me her favorite shops because seriously her clothes can't be from some secondhand shop. _

I wasn't exactly eager to submit the amazing girl to my sister's torturing techniques. On the other hand, I could always use more information. "Sorry but I don't think that dragging her to shops would help my case a lot. I mean, do you know a single thing more about her than when we first met her?"

Alice frowned in irritation because apparently I was creating problems for her. Naturally in less than a few moments Jasper was behind her hugging her from the back. She glanced at him hopefully. "Do you know anything more about Carlie?"

His face fell. "No." He apologetically shook his head.

"But you do have Math with Maton." If I wanted to get to the girl, I would definitely have to talk to the boy as well, so I could use something more about him too.

"Yes..." My brother trailed off visibly tensing up.

"What's wrong?" Alice's frown turned into a confused one.

Her lover sighed hugging her tighter. "Nothing is wrong. It's just that he is not the person you would like to get involved with." My curiosity peeked at this. Jasper turned to me. "He is a troublemaker who can be very observant whenever he wants to."

"I thought you said everybody liked him?" The kid didn't seem a problematic one.

"Students at most of the time, yeah." My brother nodded thinking about the boy during breaks at school. "But definitely not teachers." Now Alice was intrigued. "Every single time a teacher makes a mistake, Maton has a sudden urgency to correct it and if it is possible, make a fool of the older person showing to everybody that the elder has no idea what he or she is talking about."

"Do you think that him knowing all the answers could mean some abnormality? Maybe he is a descendant of those dogs, and he has stopped aging years ago? This would also explain his speed. Or maybe he is a mind reader?" I desperately needed some explanations.

Jasper shook his head. "No. He definitely can't read minds. Otherwise his reactions would be very different, and he would have a lot of questions for us. Maybe he would even try to expose us; he is the one who uses others' mistakes for his own fun." This couldn't mean anything good.

"You will just have to be careful." Alice shrugged looking at me. I couldn't agree more with her.

"Kids, School." Esme was rereading one of the many stories she had bought. Unfortunately we did have to go to our classes. Though the idea of seeing Carlie fueled my determination to go through one more day. We piled up in our living room turning to the garage. "Good luck!" She wished us like every other time. I still couldn't understand why we would need luck during our lessons; sure we were having a test today, but it's not like we didn't know all the possible answers.

When we arrived, there were only a few minutes left till our classes. It was terribly pouring even for Forks, and the streets were like small gushing rivers. While driving it felt like my precious Volvo was swimming rather than riding, and all because of the amounts of flowing water. The parking lot was almost full with teachers and senior students' cars, but my spot was empty. I pulled into my place noticing the Ducati and the blue Audi parked side by side a little further away from me. It was rather strange because most of the other cars changed their parking places everyday, but those two were always parked in the same spots. The Ducati belonged to Maton, so it wasn't difficult to guess who was the owner of the Audi.

My siblings and I got out of my car and made our ways to the classes. Like on any other day nothing interesting happened till Biology. Entire students' body had been rereading their notes for both Biology and Physics the whole day; apparently both disciplines were having a test on the same day.

I took my seat by Carlie's side noting how beautifully she looked. She was studying her notes and from determination on her face it was obvious that no distraction was welcome at the time. When the teacher came in telling us to put away our books, I took my chance.

"Hello." I offered her a friendly smile.

"Oh, hey." She answered with a smile of her own only now noticing me sitting by her.

"Do you want to grab some lunch after this test?" I tried keeping my fingers crossed; any answer except 'no' would be an achievement.

"I'd love to, but I always have my lunch with Maton." She bit her lower lip in thought for a moment. "Why don't you join us? Our friends are ditching school because of the rain."

This wasn't my idea about lunch with her, but I had to take what she was giving to me or risk loosing any future chance. "Sure." I nodded with a fake smile.

The teacher gave us our tests, and we started. To avoid cheating every student was given a different version of the list with questions. I glided through my exercises without a single problem answering everything till I came to the last one. _The stages of cloning. _Stages of mitosis or meiosis I knew and could hear in other students' minds but cloning? I could scarcely remember something about cloning from my ancient medicine studies, though it's not like they knew a lot about this subject over a century ago. I had never ever cheated during any of my tests in any of the schools, but today I felt lucky to have the ability of reading minds. I concentrated on the thoughts around me looking for anything in connection to cloning. Unfortunately the only thing I came across was '_cloning is the process of producing populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually.' _Hardly something I could use. I tried remembering what was said during lessons. Clone and Dolly flitted at the back of my mind but the only things I could remember thinking about were the love of my life and Carlie. Just great; I had never failed to get an A with plus from my tests before. I suppose everything had a first time.

When the teacher collected our papers, Carlie looked anxious to talk to the man. She turned to me biting her lower lip. "Why don't you go ahead, and I'll be right there. I want to ask the teacher about a few questions."

Once more I simply nodded, "sure."

We got up and turned to different directions. I dragged my feet to the cafeteria and got a bottle of water pretending it was my 'lunch'. Looking as pale and frustrated as I did, it wouldn't be difficult to say I didn't feel hungry, or that I was nauseated after my Biology test. I glanced around the room noticing Maton sitting by his usual table. I made my way in his direction making sure to be in his line of sight when I approached him; all to no avail because the boy was reading a thick math book about a probability theory. Didn't he have anything more interesting to do?

"Hello. Mind if I sit here?" I arranged my features into a friendly mask.

He raised his eyes to meet mine and shrugged nonchalant. "Carlie invited you." he motioned with his hand towards one of the chairs opposite from him.

Was this supposed to mean that the girl was going to offer me to sit with them by herself? And what did his gesture with the hand mean? This boy seriously lacked manners. Oh how much I wanted to be able to read his mind.

I sat across the table from him. After a few minutes of awkward silence for me I decided to start a conversation. It would look nice if when Carlie came, we would be talking. "How was your test?" I tried in a friendly tone.

Maton raised his eyes from the book he was reading and looked at me for a moment before answering. "It's cool. Easy as always." He shrugged. My eyebrows shot up. How could he find that test easy? "I have Physics, not Biology." He lightly chuckled. I relaxed a little; at least he wasn't better than me in Biology, for it would have been so embarrassing.

_"Physics? Easy? What is he talking about?! It was a nightmare!" _Looks like I wasn't the only one in my family hardly satisfied with my test's results; Emmett was fuming. But I had to focus on the boy in front of me.

"What are you reading?" I asked in a friendly way. His fingers were covering the title, and I couldn't remember any other students reading books as thick as that one.

"Oh, it's just some light blabbering. Well, not blabbering, but nothing serious either." He quickly dismissed the question only making me more curious. I slightly tilted my head encouraging him to elaborate on that. "Our school library got a new book about Physics." He shrugged boring his eyes into the material. Now it was clear why science was easy for him, and of course he had to understand Maths to have at least some idea about what the book was talking about.

I noticed a piece of paper lying on the table beside his lunch tray. "Is this your song for today's class?"

"What?" He raised his eyes from the book and noticed where I was looking. "Oh, yeah." I motioned to the paper to ask if I could read it, and he handed it to me.

I started reading.

_"We're not gonna be just a part of the game.  
We're not gonna be just the victims.  
They're taking our dreams, and they tear them apart_

_Till everyone's the same.  
I've got no place to go,  
I've got nowhere to run." _Hardly to the point which was freedom_._

_"They want to watch me fall,  
They think they know it all." _Typical teenager_.  
"I'm a nightmare, a disaster._

_That's what they'd always say.  
I'm a lost cause, not a hero," _Can't say I didn't agree with this._  
"But I'll make it on my own.  
I've gotta prove them wrong  
Me against the world.  
Its me against the world._

_We won't let them change how we feel in our hearts.  
We're not gonna let them control us.  
We won't let them shove all the thoughts in our heads.  
And we'll never be like them." _Childish rebellion..._  
_

_Now I'm sick of this waiting,_

_So come on and take your shot.  
You can spit out your insults  
But nothing's gonna change us." _And now I had to say what I thought?

_"_You can sit there and judge me, say what you want to; we'll never let you in." He said calmly looking at me. Ouch! I did know that I wasn't on his favorite people list, but to hear it said so bluntly... This kid seriously needed to learn some manners. For some reason he laughed at me or was it my expression so amusing? "That's the last strophe I forgot to write down." His eyes twinkled scrutinizing my features.

"Oh, right." I murmured glancing back at the page. It was far more friendlier than the boy in front of me. Finally I tore my eyes off the paper and looked back at Maton; he was waiting for my opinion. "Well, it's... interesting. Rather good, actually." Who cared about what I really thought; I needed him on my good side.

He snorted rolling his eyes. "It's lame. But we are in High School." He shrugged. "We are supposed to act like teenagers, you know?"

"Yeah, unfortunately..." At least we agreed on something. School was terribly boring, and all this acting was getting rather old. For some reason his eyes sparkled.

Before I got a chance to say anything else, he stood up taking his things and glancing at his watch. "I knew Carlie was afraid of this test, but terrorizing the teacher for so long is ridiculous. She will be late, again. I'll grab her something to eat." He murmured more to himself than to me. Then he turned to me. "I'll see you in class."

I nodded, and he turned away before realization dawned in my mind. I quickly got up and grabbed his hand stopping him from walking away. "Wait, what did you mean by saying 'we have to _act_ like teenagers'?" Luckily I managed to keep my voice down because my nerves were more alarmed than I could remember happening before.

His eyes shone with a shade of mischief; he was a true nightmare, even for those who couldn't sleep. "Just like you said, you understand me." He grinned from ear to ear. I glared at him and tightened my grip on his arm. This time he dropped his friendly mask and angrily hissed through his clenched teeth at me. "Unless you want to cause a scene, I suggest you let go of my arm." He was furious but kept his voice low.

Then just like when Maton was about to lunge at Emmett outside the gym, suddenly I could see shapeless figures quickly shimmering around and circling me. I was a vampire! Me senses were supposed to be quick enough to see and generally notice everything! But this time I could only try to keep them in my vision long enough to make out the silhouettes. My mind faintly registered that Maton yanked his arm out of my grip and stormed out of the cafeteria. As soon as he was at the doors, the shadows disappeared.

I followed him out only to bump into Carlie coming in.

"Edward, here you are." She smiled seeming honestly happy to see me. "I'm sorry I took so long, but I wanted to ask the teacher a few questions." I couldn't tear my eyes away from Maton's retreating back. "Is everything alright?"

Finally I looked at her. "Yes." I sighed pinching my bridge of the nose. She followed where I had been looking and noticed the boy mounting his motorcycle.

"Oh." She lowly winced as if from pain and turned to me. "Sorry, but I..." She motioned with her hand towards the parking lot. Strangely her eyes looked honestly apologetic.

I could hear Jasper coming out of the canteen. "Yeah, sure." I sighed again nodding. Today's lunch was a disaster anyway.

She shot me another regretful look and ran after the boy. I turned to the doors to greet my brother rather than watching the two love birds take off.

"You alright?" Jasper asked scrutinizing my face and emotions.

I could see through his eyes Carlie getting into the blue Audi and leaving the school after Maton. "Tell me what do you feel from them?" I motioned with my head towards the two kids.

"Today or any other day?" He raised his eyebrows trying to steal some time before answering. Finally he broke our eye contact and looked at the forest. "Adoration." He murmured almost to low for me to hear.

"Love?" I prompted. I needed to hear a yes or no to this specific word.

My brother unhappily sighed. "It's more like the first love. You know, complete acceptance, unconditional love without any lust, absolute trust and mutual support..."

"Like mates?" For some reason this aced so much. Being honest with myself I had to admit that even during the best of ours my love and I never achieved this far in our relationship; it used to be more like taking a deep breath and relenting to whatever the other one wanted without actually agreeing. This alone pained me, but I could change nothing.

"They are _humans_." My brother almost rolled his eyes at my forgetfulness. "Come on, we need to get to our classes."

I walked through the rest of my day without noticing what was happening around me. I was confused and hurt; the centre of my existence would never return, but for some reason it also pained me to see both Carlie and Maton leaving me in the parking lot. This time I decided to stay away from both of them unless they began the conversation themselves.

**

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Thank you for reading. ****The song was Me Against the World by Simple Plan.**

**Let me know what you think about this chapter and the story in general, and if you liked it or not.**


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